Take the Leap

Have you ever heard of an Impala?  No, I’m not talking about the car.  There is an actual living thing called an African Impala and it’s a pretty extraordinary animal.  It has the ability to jump over 10 feet high, 33 feet forward and it’s back is like a shock absorber.  It literally explodes through the air when it jumps. They can also reach top speeds close to 60 mph!

Can you imagine what kind of enclosure it takes to keep this kind of super animal in captivity at a zoo?  It would only need a little more than a running start to jump clear out of the park!  Here’s the shocking truth…

They are contained at the zoo by a 3 ft. wall!  No need to read that again – you read it correctly, a wall at the height of a mere 3 ft!  Here’s why.  An impala is hesitant to use its ability to jump if it is unable to see where it’s going to land.  The inability to see the end of the jump somehow hinders the impala from something it’s naturally able to do.

Are we really any different?  Our inability to see the end of the jump somehow hinders US from something WE WERE CREATED TO DO!  Our inability to live by faith keeps us from taking the leap, from DEFYING GRAVITY, and experiencing incredible heights with God.   Our life with Jesus is nothing more than a series of JUMPS that we were created for! They take us higher and further into a life with Jesus, but we are held captive by a 3ft wall! It could be a jump that involves sharing our faith with a friend, serving others, becoming a more generous giver, making adjustments in our lifestyle, or making a decision to follow Christ.

We are filled with EXPLOSIVE GOD-POTENTIAL just sitting behind a three-foot wall.   Though freedom waits for us on the other side, the walls around us seem overwhelming!  To others, a 3 ft. wall may not seem that significant, but when you are the one jumping, a three-foot wall often feels like a SKYSCRAPER!

Can you imagine how Peter felt when He saw Jesus walking on the water?  He called out to Jesus and said, “If it’s really you, let me walk on water too!” With Peter’s next step, He defied gravity and leaped the barrier in front of Him.  He had no clue where he would land (well, I guess he had some clue, after all it was water), but he took a literal leap of faith!  I guess if you could see the other side, it wouldn’t be called FAITH would it?

Hebrews 11 (NLT) says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”  You may not be able to see where you will land, but if you will simply have enough faith to take the leap, you can ALWAYS be sure that God controls gravity!