Five Minute Friday - Reach

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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

reach out

just out of reach

reach your goal

reach for the stars

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There's an abundance of quotes and posters and self-help books that all tell us to set our sights high and go for the biggest possible goals we can dream of, and I suppose that's not a bad thing. Especially if we have the mindset that it's okay if we don't attain that impossible goal, because if we try that's a win in itself. The old "if you reach for the stars and miss, you'll get the moon or the sky" idea. 

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,

Or what's a heaven for? ~Robert Browning

But what if the standard we must reach is actually impossible for us? And we're not being graded on an effort scale but on an absolute standard of either you're perfect or you're not? 

The standard to reach heaven is perfection and holiness. Not good as anybody and better than most. But perfection. Jesus told us so himself:

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

~Matthew 5:46-48~

I've got news for you, if you haven't already figure it out on your own. It's impossible for us to be perfect! Moses was the most humble man that ever lived, and he talked to God face to face like a friend, but he wasn't good enough to make it to the promised land. David was a man after God's own heart, but he sure messed up! Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, but he wasn't smart enough to reach God's standard of perfection. Except for one thing. God reached out to make a way!

No matter how hard we try, how high we reach on our best days, it's not enough. But God reaches out to us and in his mercy he gave his own Son. If we believe in him, we have all the help we need to reach holiness and heaven. We only have to reach for him, because he is ready to reach out and save us, heal us, and give us the ability to obey his standards.

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

~Deuteronomy 30:11-16~

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.

~Luke 5:13~

"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

~Matthew 14:29-31~

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, thought he is not far from any one of us.

~Acts 17:26-27~

Living a perfect and holy life good enough to get to heaven is out of our reach, but we only need to reach out to Jesus and HE does the rest!

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Had to include this quote because it's so iconic!

Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. ~Casey Kasem

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Reach".

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