The Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country….unto the land I will show thee.

Genesis 12:2

This was the second call to Abram, for the first had come when he was in Mesopotamia “before he dwelt in Haran.”(Acts 7:2) Abram had gone forward from Chaldea, but not, it seems, far enough, and it is a solemn thought that no history is recorded of all the days he spent in Haran. But God persisted with his call. We sometimes hope by procrastination to get him to modify his demands. He will not do that, for he has never abandoned the goal he set before us years ago. If we have let it slip, God has not.

From God’s point of view Haran was little advance on Mesopotamia. Abram might be satisfied that he had made a move, but God had called him to a land. All true calling is a high calling. Let us content ourselves with no halfway house. The question is no how far we have gone since we started, but whether our hearts are still set on God’s goal.

Watchman Nee

In our journey with God, we often come to a place where we feel we have gone far enough so we stop and build a dwelling place. We reason that we’ve made progress and at least left our past somewhat behind. We will say, “Thank God, I’m not what I used to be.” But can we say, “Thank God, I’m all He wants me to be?” I think not. One of the strategies of Satan is to persuade us that we have gone far enough and now it’s time to rest.

There are a couple stories from Scripture I want to share with you. Before I do look again at the story of Abraham that Nee shares with us. Do you see that even as Abraham along the way was tempted to settle down, God kept moving him along until at last he reached Canaan? Why was this in light of the fact that some of the places were no doubt better than the ones left behind? As it is with us, good became the enemy of excellent. We may find good along the way but only the final destination as determined by God will be excellent. Left to ourselves we would more times than not settle for far less than God has for us.

One day Jesus is talking about forgiveness and Peter asks, “How many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times?” That’s a good question and not a particularly bad answer. Sometimes it’s difficult to forgive once much less seven times. Seven was good at least from Peter’s perspective. The standard for righteous forgiveness as ascribed by the priests was three. That’s still pretty much the standard. We get three strikes in baseball, parents count to three before enacting discipline and even the justice system operates on three strikes. Most people would think if we forgave three times we have satisfied the required number. Peter though, who had been with Jesus long enough to know that His standards always exceeded the normal accepted ones, decided to gain some brownie points. He doubles the norm and adds one, thinking that he has gone far enough because it farther than anyone else. That’s our misconception too. When we exceed the norm, we think we have gone far enough so we can stop. After all we are ahead of everybody else. We bring into the equation the example of being chased by a bear. We reason we don’t have to outrun the bear. We just need to outrun others and we will remain safe. Maybe the other disciples that day were looking at Peter with admiration for moving to that level, but not Jesus. Instead Jesus responds, “Not seven times but seven times seventy.” In other words Jesus wants us to go all the way with forgiveness, not some measured distance. He wants us to walk in forgiveness so deep that we lose count of how many times we have forgiven the trespasser. Say with me the words of the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Only those who have arrived at the place where they no longer need God’s forgiveness can place a mark for a stopping place to forgive others. God calls us deeper.

Sitting with Jesus as He begins to tell the disciples about His coming suffering and crucifixion, Peter makes a boast:

“Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night [disillusioned about Me, confused, and some even ashamed of Me], for it is written [in the Scriptures], ‘.’ But after I am raised [to life], I will go ahead of you [leading the way] to Galilee.” Peter replied to Him, “Though they all fall away because of You [and doubt and disown You], I will never fall away!”

Matthew 26: 31-33

In a safe secure place where the demand for loyalty under duress is not present, it’s easy to say to the Lord, “I’ll go all the way.” But when faced with the reality and the cost of going all the way, we find ourselves like Peter “standing far off.” Again, like Peter, we could reason that at least we didn’t run totally away like the rest had. But the lesson we learn is that choosing to not go all the way may very well result in the denial of Christ. That night, Peter denied that he knew Jesus. Why? Because the good of following afar off wasn’t sufficient to overcome temptation. Only the excellence of following closely will make us”fishers of men.” I’m glad Peter’s story didn’t end here for Christ who loved him and loves us pursued him and will pursue us until we move from good-enough to excellence in our closeness to Him. It is only in the walking beside Christ, going with Him all the way, that we will finally come to the Canaan He has for us. Though Peter had certainly made progress in his journey, when he stopped pursuing and remained afar off, things seemed to fall short of expectations. Peter’s response to his failure was to go back to his old lifestyle. That’s what happens to us when we stop moving forward. It is a myth that we can stop and settle in. The truth is we are either moving forward in our journey of faith or we are sliding back toward our old ways. We either are led forward by the Holy Spirit(those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God) or we are being drawn and dragged back into destruction(the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy). Jesus, who knew that Peter had stopped far short of his destiny comes seeking him. Finding him back on the boat pursuing his old line of work, having forgotten he was no longer called to fish for fish but to fish for men, Jesus calls him to the shore and gives him new instructions. Though Peter might have stopped, Jesus wasn’t finished with him. That day on the shore, Jesus reiterated Peter’s mission, “Feed my sheep.” And the rest of his life, all the way to death, Peter pursued that goal. Nothing, success nor persecution, could cause him to rest in the place of “far enough.” He realized that as long as there was one hungry sheep, his task wasn’t done.

So I ask you today has weariness, disappointment, failure or perhaps the opposite, success, accomplishment, or “far enough” caused you to stagnate in your pursuit of Christ? Have you gone far enough and decided you can set your own destination or can you hear the Lord calling you farther and deeper?

In the forty-second chapter of Ezekiel, we read of the progress of the faith journey:

“When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water that was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand [cubits] and led me through the water, water that was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand [cubits] and led me through the water, water reaching the hips. Again he measured a thousand [cubits]; and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed [by wading].”

Ezekiel 47: 3-5

God wants to bring us just as He did with Abraham, the Israelites and Peter out to the place where the things of the world have lost their hold on us and we are totally reliant on Him. Wherever you are on the journey, don’t stop now. You’ve come too far to turn back even if it’s just been a few moments.

Dr. John Thompson