MIND THE GAP

by | Nov 25, 2022 | Prophetic | 2 comments

On our first visit to London, Jan and I discovered the Underground. The Underground is a citywide rail system that is part of the daily fabric of life for Londoners allowing them to traverse the city with ease.

Traveling on the Underground you quickly learn what a phrase painted between the train landing at the train tracks means. “Mind the Gap” is a warning for waiting riders to stand back from an area where they could fall victim to a passing train. Stepping inside that marked gap puts you in jeopardy of life and limb.

Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica to let them know one of the motivations for his prayers for them. Paul told his readers that he prayed “…to fill in the gaps in your faith” (I Thessalonians 3:10). 

Every one of us has gaps in our faith. We are a work in progress. These gaps are places where the Lordship of Jesus is not allowed to be in full operation. We hold on to the control in those areas thinking we can do a better job than Jesus as the lords of those areas. Each gap in our faith is a place where we have given the fruit of the flesh permission to lead and control us instead of the fruit of the Spirit. Only by allowing the Lordship of Jesus to define our steps will we mind the dangerous gaps in our faith where we assume to know better than God. 

On subsequent visits to London, I had to discipline myself to look down, not just on the Underground, but on the streets of London where the same warning is painted on the sidewalks as traffic was coming at me from an opposite direction than what we have in America. Each year to the peril of many undiscerning tourists, people are injured, and some cases die because they failed to mind the gap.

Today, make a conscious effort to mind the gaps in your faith. Don’t lose heart in your place of weakness and vulnerability. We lose heart when we continue to hold onto control in the gaps of our faith. In those weak places when we allow the Lordship of Jesus to lead us, hope is possible.

Like it was when Paul prayed for the gaps in the faith of the Thessalonians, so will be for you. Don’t forget, someone is praying for you even if you cannot see or hear those prayers. Even the most isolated spiritual hermit has at least one person praying for them – the Lord Jesus.  If you mind the gaps in your faith you will come out on the other side of this challenging season spiritually and emotionally intact because you stepped forward under the faithful Lordship of Jesus.

2 Comments

  1. John J Anderson II

    Wonderful metaphor, Garris.

    When we recognize that Jesus is committed to presenting every believer “complete” on the final day, it is His strategy to arrange our circumstances to press us to grow and change – “filling the gaps.”

    Reply
  2. Julie Bowman

    Great writing Garris! The analogy was perfect for mean to really grasp the concept. Thank you!

    Reply

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