I’ve moved a lot. Whenever I’m about to move, or looking for
a new place to live I always try to picture myself there first. What would it
be like to LIVE there, to call it “home?” Would my things fit? Would my kitty
be happy? Would the space be comfortable? Would I be able to have people come
visit? Would I have access to the resources I need? Would I have access to the
people and aspects of life that bring me joy?
It’s not just a new home I do this with, a new job, a new endeavor,
a new friendship. All too often I let my ability to fantasize dictate the
direction I move in life. Here is where I go wrong, (and perhaps you do too) I
can only fantasize to the degree of my knowledge. I am limiting my own
potential to what I KNOW.
I've heard it said that people can only believe something
that is somewhere between 10-15% beyond their scope of understanding. These aren’t exact
numbers of course, because there is no real metric for measuring these things,
but Arthur Burk gives a great example. I cant remember the specifics of numbers he used, so I will use myself. If there was a pie graph of ALL KNOWLEDGE in the
universe, it might be said that I comprehend 6% off all knowledge in the universe. 6% is a VERY generous number here! I also have a concept of
things that I know that I don’t know, such as how to put a car together. I know
people know how to do it, but I don’t. I understand that the knowledge exists, I
just don’t have it. I could say that perhaps 9% of the pie of all knowledge I know
that I don’t know. That would bring me to a whopping 15% of known knowledge and
things I know that I don’t know.
If I let my ability to fantasize dictate my potential and
options, I am severely limiting myself to less than a quarter of the pie! There
is a whole 75% of the pie that is totally unknown!
Here is how fantasy can kill our destiny. Often the promises
and purposes God has for us, are outside our ability to even fathom. If we only
stay within the confines of the “known” we never really step into a place of
faith. It is through faith and patience that we receive the promises of God!
Sometimes I get frustrated with not having greater clarity
of the will of God. I actually think it is often the mercy of God that He only
shows me step by step and little glipses. Sometimes getting a vision of what God has planned can
be paralyzing because we can’t see how we will get from where we ARE to where He
has called us.
I love the story of Abraham. There is a little half a verse
that has so pricked my spirit and deeply inspires me. The second half of Hebrew
11:8 says,
“And
he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
Wow.
God made Abraham a promise, even though he couldn’t see how it
could be fulfilled, he went out in faith, not even knowing where he was going. Faith
over feelings. Faith over sight. Faith over understanding.
Fantasy confines us. Faith gives us access to the limitless
potential of the plans that the Creator of the Universe has for us—the knower
of ALL KNOWLEDGE no matter how far off our grid of understanding!
For my thoughts are not
your thoughts,
neither
are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than
the earth,
so
are my ways higher than your ways
and
my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
Now to him who is able to
do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think,
according to the power at
work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus
throughout all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
