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The Impala is an amazing creature that has a vertical leap of more than 10 feet and can jump an amazing 30 feet.
With such abilities, one would think zoos would have to take extraordinary measures to build enclosures to keep these nearly airborne creatures inside the zoo, but they don’t. It seems the Impala will not execute its amazing jumps unless it can see where it’s going to land. So, zoos only have to build a six-foot wall to keep the animals inside.
Unfortunately, there are some members of the Lord’s church who have this same problem. They are capable of so many great things and could do amazing things, but they’re limited to going only so far as they can see. Just as the Impala is unable to jump unless it can see the landing, some children of God restrict themselves to doing only those works for God they think they can with the money and talent they believe they possess.
The writer of the Hebrew letter wrote, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is the ability to do something or to see something not on the basis of sight, but on those things that are invisible, or unseen. The apostle Paul wrote, “We walk by faith and not by sight,” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
It is a shame to see a church with so much potential limit itself because a lack of faith prevents it from using its potential to become great in the kingdom. If it is true that “without faith it is impossible to please him (God),” (Hebrews 11:6), then can a church with a lack of faith be pleasing to God?
All should recall it was Jesus who said to the church at Ephesus who had left their first love, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent,” (Revelation 2:5). What Jesus meant by the candlestick is that if Ephesus didn’t repent and get faithfully busy, the church they had taken for granted would exist no longer.
Brethren, our reach should exceed our grasp because we are people of faith and believe that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).