It seems that the longer I am a follower of Jesus and the longer I spend pursuing Him, the more I find myself amazed at how little I actually understand the working of God in this world. But isn't this true about most things in life? Scientists who study the universe are consistently baffled at the perplexity of life. Economists are able to understand market trends...that is, until, those trends begin to change and fluctuate. Historians are constantly unearthing artifacts, homes, ancient remains that speak to a level of understanding that was previously unattained. The more that we as humanity dig into the things we care most about the more we realize how much further and deeper our understanding and love can reach.
It is this pursuit of depth, in all things, that makes us so uniquely equipped to follow Jesus into the richness of his grace and love. And yet so often depth is the one thing in life that we avoid. When we dig deep into relationships we leave ourselves vulnerable to pain. When we dive deep into work or sports or another activities we often find that these things leave us dissatisfied.
So, often times, to combat the negative "feelings" we perceive from going deeper, we change our tactics and reach for the "Mountain Top" experience. That experience that gives us the feeling of ultimate satisfaction and joy. This is why it is so easy to be a "bandwagon" fan in sports. Instead of sticking with a team through difficult years, we abandon our allegiance in favor of the team that will give us the mountain top experience of being a winner. It is why we often abandon relationships when they get difficult, rather than probing the depths and realizing how deep our love can reach. But ultimately the mountain top is a brief moment of satisfaction that quickly fades away and casts us back into the "valleys" of life where relationships are difficult to navigate and our feelings often gravitate toward recreating that one moment of ultimate satisfaction and joy.
Christians have been unable to escape the trap of Mountain Top aspirations. Following Jesus can be one of the most rewarding experiences imaginable but often times it is difficult and uncomfortable. So we look for the Mountain Top experience as way of escaping the uncomfortable reality of following Jesus into the depths of God's heart.
Growing up I attended Church camps and Youth events throughout the summers that could be defined as "Mountain Top" experiences for me. I would leave the summer filled to the brim with a feeling of ultimate satisfaction and joy. And yet the moment I stepped off the mountain and entered into the world of the mundane I would find myself longing to recapture the Jesus I met on the mountain. I was desperately afraid of finding Jesus in the depth of my humanity because I knew that he would not bring the feelings of joy that I felt in the summers. I was being sustained in the "valleys" of life by recalling the "mountain top" experience.
Throughout scripture God used mountain tops to reveal himself in powerful and dramatic ways. Moses went up to the mountain and received a great revelation of God's presence. Elijah heard the whisper of God's voice on the mountain. And Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain where a unique experience was given them. However, in all of these mountain top moments God calls his people to descend the mountain and enter the world of depth. If you read each of these moments you will see that God never intended for the mountain top to be the pinnacle moment for these men. It was never meant to be the bar by which their future encounters with God were measured. Rather, it is quite the opposite. God spoke and revealed himself in powerful ways from atop mountains so his people would leave the mountain and begin a journey of depth into the heart of God.
I have become convinced that mountain top experiences, although short lived, are a blessing provided by God to propel us into the depths of his richness. Hopefully we all have mountain top experiences with Jesus where he shows up in a powerful way revealing his majesty and glory. Where we feel connected to his Spirit and like we can conquer the world. However, if this is the only place we meet God, then we greatly short ourselves of the depth of love and grace we could experience in Jesus. The mountain was always meant to reveal God, not be the gold standard by which we measure the entirety of our relationship with him.
Each Sunday I go to a worship experience with nearly 2500 other followers of Jesus. This time of worship is a place where God shows up in a mighty way. Traditionally Sunday worship was used as the mountain top experience meant to sustain us through a week of being bombarded and beat up by the regular world around us. We took what we experienced on Sunday at the forefront of our minds as a way to help us think, "Only 3 more days and I will get back to the mountain." But what if Sunday worship was a reflection of the depth of our journey with Jesus throughout the week? What if we showed up on Sunday full of the depth of Jesus love and grace and used that to propel us into an experience with God? How would this change the way we worship on Sunday? I tend to believe it would dramatically increase our worship to create a true mountain top experience that would invite us to leave the mountain and probe the depths of God throughout the week.
Currently we live in Nashville and work at the Ethos Church as embedded Church Planters. We are in the process of building a team to help us plant churches in Seattle that will reveal the presence of God to that city. As I think about how to create moments where people can enter into the presence of God, I am realizing that the only way I could ever lead a movement of God in that city is to leave the mountain and enter into the depths of the richness of God's grace and love. This means probing the depths of my own humanity and uncovering the parts of my life that have been hidden from God's presence. Humanity has a desire for depth that has largely been untapped. I long to see Seattle experience the mountain top of God's beauty and presence so it can descend and begin a journey that will never be quenched and ultimately will lead into a never ceasing search for the depths of God's grace and love.
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