Falling Off The Mountaintop

Ever been to the top of the mountain in your Christian walk? For your sake I hope you have. If you've been there, you know how close to God you feel when you're at the mountaintop and have reached what feels like the pinnacle of communication with Him. It's a place where you have such a sense of communion with our God, with our Savior, that joy literally spills out of you and you find yourself unable to quit smiling.

But what happens when you come down? Maybe a better question would be, why do we all fall off the mountaintop? I don't think we have to for the most part; rather, I think we choose to by our actions once we're there. That's right; I said we choose to fall off. It doesn't just happen.

It seems to me it'd be easy to rationalize losing mountaintop-type communication with God the same way we rationalize anything else we fail at in our lives. Yes, fail. That's not meant to be accusatory or overly dramatic. When we don't succeed at something, we fail. Is that bothersome? Oh, I see. Perhaps you don't want to think of it as "failing", but would rather say something to yourself that is less inflammatory. Maybe you'd like to explain it away as, "That's not something we can feel all the time; it only occurred because the situation was just right." Or something along the lines of, "You can't expect me to feel that close to God all the time. I can't recreate that weekend at camp or that concert which drew me in with such worshipful music."

Sure, OK, keep telling that to yourself. In fact, as long as you're at it, don't forget to apologize to God for lying about your commitment to Him just so you can feel better on the inside. Now make no mistake about it, I am just as guilty as any of us when it comes to falling off the mountaintop. And if it were scientifically possible to do so, I'd guess each of us truly lives that amazing experience maybe .001% of the total time our lives encompass. I could be off by fraction here or there, but seriously, how many of us actually maintain that level of communion with God all the time?

Why don't we do it? Notice I didn't ask why we "can't" do it; I asked why we "don't" do it. I'm calling all of us out here. What is wrong with us that we don't strive for that mountaintop experience all the time? Why would we NOT want to feel that way 100% of the time, 100% of our lives? Is it possible to live it 100% of the time? If I'm honest with myself, it's probably not. Honestly, it'd be a little distracting to others if you sat with a goofy smile on your face in every activity of every day, too. In fact, that reaction may get you a ride to the funny farm for a little testing. But I'm not trying to be unrealistic here, even though it probably seems like it.

What I'm really trying to do is challenge each of us to make a firmer commitment to God, to make a solid commitment to being in communion with Him 100% of the time. We may not get to that mountaintop experience 100% and it may not even be technically possible, but what I'm suggesting is that if we are willing to commit more of our lives to study, pray and fellowship with others more, we'll get closer to that number.

Do you spend time in a daily devotion, just you and God? If you're married, do you spend time in a daily devotion for the two of you? If the answer to either or both of these is "no", why not? Don't say you don't have enough time, because even five minutes a day can have a profound impact on your life. And if you are married and are not having a devotional time together, I'd encourage you to do so. This is the person closer to you than anyone else, and what better way to grow together than by investing spiritually in each other?

Challenge yourself to reach the top of the mountain and stay there as long as you can. Challenge yourself by committing spiritually in a way you've never done before. Today, take a moment and ask God to show you one way you can be closer to Him. If you're unsure of what to do, pick something you know will help. Honestly, that's what He's going to provide for you anyway, that idea of how to be closer to Him. You could start by subscribing to a daily devotional in your e-mail, or perhaps reading the Bible in a year via e-mail, or opening up your Bible and focusing fully on just one verse a day. There are so many small, simple steps we can take to draw us closer to God. And though He is so much bigger and so much more complex than we can ever hope to be, He also has really big arms waiting to give you a big hug. Let Him do it. Invite yourself into His world and spend some time with Him. Start working your way up the mountain.