Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

-1 Cor. 13:10-12 (The Message)

In this passage, Paul speaks of “The Gap” (no, not the store!). The Gap is the space between present life on earth contrasted with future life in eternity.

He illustrates the Gap by analogizing the divide between:

*Incomplete & Complete

*Childhood & Adulthood

*Obscurity & Clarity

*Limited Vision & Unhindered Sight

These words do not merely communicate the Gap between Earth and Heaven, but also reminds us of the Gap that resides within the human heart. This Gap represents the space between God’s vision for our life versus how well we actually live it out. It is here, as it has been often said “where the rubber meets the road.”

We can mean well, but if we don’t do well, things won’t be well. Becoming aware of the Gap’s existence is not too difficult. Addressing the Gap is where the hard work really begins.

Addressing the Gap takes effort. It takes honesty. It takes guts.

It is so much easier to:

*Ignore the Gap.

*Deny the Gap.

*Blame the Gap on other people.

Doing these things does nothing to bridge the Gap, it just increases it.

As leaders, if we don’t bravely address the Gap, our great vision will never become real.

The good news is, we don’t have to address the Gap all at one time. We can, as Bill Murray’s character says in the movie “What about Bob?“, take “Baby Steps”.

Question for all of us (Step 1):

What is one decision I can make in the next 24 hours that will address the Gap and move me a step closer to God’s vision for my life?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.