Romans 1:21-23
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Do you know when you have reached your threshold? Everyone has one and everyone’s is different. In fact, everyone moves the threshold at different levels depending on the decision they must make. I remember once I had a golden retriever that had hip dysplasia and required surgery, which was going to be very expensive. We didn’t have much money then. When we heard the expense was over our financial threshold, we were forced to make a major decision. Feeling bad, I decided to ask around as to what other people’s thresholds would be when spending money on medically treating a dog. I was very surprised that the numbers went from I would sell everything I had to help the dog to I would take the dog out back and shoot it to put it out of his misery (a little cold hearted).
We set thresholds for what we will pay for a car or a house or we set thresholds of time we will spend waiting for someone or for something to happen. We set thresholds for how much we want to learn or eat or exercise. We set thresholds for how far we will travel or how much we will give or if we will offer forgiveness. We also set thresholds for our belief in God.
The threshold seems to go up when things are going great, yet it goes down when things are not going so well. We say things like, ‘God, why have you abandoned me or why did you allow for this to happen to me? You must not be a God I want to follow, so I will go and find another one.’
Paul was saying exactly that when he said to his listeners, “They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Where will you set your threshold for God when it comes to trusting Him? How much room are you giving Him to prove He is worthy of your time, talents, resources, and heart?
Every trial we go through will test the bar you set. Should you have trusted in Him, the bar will be raised higher, giving Him more room to work the next time. God asks that we remove the bar altogether when He said, “I will never leave you or forsake you. Be still and trust me for I have overcome the world. I will give you peace and depths of understanding which are beyond your ability. I will strengthen you in your weakness. I will give you purpose and a plan for your life. You will not fall for when things get hard, I will carry you. I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am faithful until the very end, even to the extent of dying for you in order that you may truly live.”
Remove the bar, give God full reign. When the bar is fully removed, you will be totally surrendered to His will and therefore, you will never again have to make the decision to cross the threshold or not.
Just a Thought…
