Have you seen the commercial where the father is playing hide and seek and finds his little boy up near the ceiling as his mother says, “We have a climber?” I have one too.
Lucas, my older son, climbs. If there is anything around taller than he is, he is on it without even conscious thought. When he was a teenager, I would hear him call from outside. When I got there, I could not see him anywhere. Finally I would hear laughter coming from above me—way above me. If there is a tree on our property he has not climbed, it was just not big enough to hold him. I should have known.
When he was about 8 months old and had just started pulling up on things and walking around them while hanging on (four weeks later he let go!), I had a cake sitting on my countertop, freshly frosted and ready for a potluck. The kitchen I had at the time was a horseshoe shape, with a lower eating bar on the side of the counter that faced the family room. I just turned around toward the oopposite leg of the counter for two minutes, wiping up crumbs. Someone had left a chair pulled out (we won’t say who is guilty of never pushing his chair in). Lucas pulled up on the chair, lifted a little leg, climbed into it, pulled himself up on the bar, then up onto the countertop and was literally two inches from planting his little fist in the cake as he crawled across the countertop when I turned around, gasped, and grabbed him.
If you had seen an 8 month old baby, still crawling on the floor, and the height of the countertop, you would have thought the cake was safe too. There was no way he would ever get near it, especially not that fast. But for him, there was no way he could not get to it if he wanted it badly enough.
Too many times we give up without trying. We look at the difficulty ahead of us and say, “I can’t.” We excuse our faults by blaming God, “I’m only human. I can’t help it.” You know what that translates to? “God made me this way. It’s His fault I can’t do any better.” What way exactly did God makes us? And God created man in His own image, in the image of God did he make him. Gen 1:27. Seems like a pretty good way to be made to me. Every excuse we can come up with is just as baseless as this one.
“I can’t handle this, God. You’re asking too much.” Which means God is not faithful. He will ask more than I can bear. There has no temptation taken you but such as man can bear; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able… 1 Cor 10:13.
“How can you allow this to happen, God?” Which means God can be tempted with evil, and he does tempt us. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man. James 1:13
“Every day I have to fight this battle. It’s just too hard for me.” Which means you can sin with impunity? Watch, stand fast in the faith, behave like men! Be strong. 1 Cor 16:13.
“I quit. I just can’t do it.” Oh? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13.
There was a little baby once who was just old enough to recognize a cake when he saw it. It did not matter that it was up three or four times higher than his head. It did not matter that he had to work hard to get there. It did not matter that it was dangerous going. He could have fallen and hurt himself badly at any time. Did he care? No, he wanted that cake and was determined to have it.
Isn’t Heaven a little more important than a piece of cake?
Dene Ward
Lucas, my older son, climbs. If there is anything around taller than he is, he is on it without even conscious thought. When he was a teenager, I would hear him call from outside. When I got there, I could not see him anywhere. Finally I would hear laughter coming from above me—way above me. If there is a tree on our property he has not climbed, it was just not big enough to hold him. I should have known.
When he was about 8 months old and had just started pulling up on things and walking around them while hanging on (four weeks later he let go!), I had a cake sitting on my countertop, freshly frosted and ready for a potluck. The kitchen I had at the time was a horseshoe shape, with a lower eating bar on the side of the counter that faced the family room. I just turned around toward the oopposite leg of the counter for two minutes, wiping up crumbs. Someone had left a chair pulled out (we won’t say who is guilty of never pushing his chair in). Lucas pulled up on the chair, lifted a little leg, climbed into it, pulled himself up on the bar, then up onto the countertop and was literally two inches from planting his little fist in the cake as he crawled across the countertop when I turned around, gasped, and grabbed him.
If you had seen an 8 month old baby, still crawling on the floor, and the height of the countertop, you would have thought the cake was safe too. There was no way he would ever get near it, especially not that fast. But for him, there was no way he could not get to it if he wanted it badly enough.
Too many times we give up without trying. We look at the difficulty ahead of us and say, “I can’t.” We excuse our faults by blaming God, “I’m only human. I can’t help it.” You know what that translates to? “God made me this way. It’s His fault I can’t do any better.” What way exactly did God makes us? And God created man in His own image, in the image of God did he make him. Gen 1:27. Seems like a pretty good way to be made to me. Every excuse we can come up with is just as baseless as this one.
“I can’t handle this, God. You’re asking too much.” Which means God is not faithful. He will ask more than I can bear. There has no temptation taken you but such as man can bear; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able… 1 Cor 10:13.
“How can you allow this to happen, God?” Which means God can be tempted with evil, and he does tempt us. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man. James 1:13
“Every day I have to fight this battle. It’s just too hard for me.” Which means you can sin with impunity? Watch, stand fast in the faith, behave like men! Be strong. 1 Cor 16:13.
“I quit. I just can’t do it.” Oh? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13.
There was a little baby once who was just old enough to recognize a cake when he saw it. It did not matter that it was up three or four times higher than his head. It did not matter that he had to work hard to get there. It did not matter that it was dangerous going. He could have fallen and hurt himself badly at any time. Did he care? No, he wanted that cake and was determined to have it.
Isn’t Heaven a little more important than a piece of cake?
Dene Ward
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