Jesus certainly realized that His sayings would be a challenge to His followers – even to those with the strongest faith. He knew it would be hard for us to see beyond this world and this life; that our paradigms are insidiously constrained by our current realities. Knowing our frailties, He encourages us to think beyond even the best we have to offer.

Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:9-11

I am convinced that the Sermon on the Mount has been given to us early in the Gospels to help us realize that we cannot live the normal Christian life. Only one person can. His name is Jesus Christ. Only the Son of God, who became the Son of Man, can live this “more than” life.

And so, as He comes near to the end of His sermon, Jesus reminds us that the benefits of His life are beyond what we ourselves can measure by the physical limitations of evil man (yes, He calls us evil). It is interesting that Jesus does not define “how much more will your Father…”. He seems to leave the answer to our imagination; but, even our imagination is incapable of measuring the goodness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think… Ephesians 3:20

The goodness of God is beyond all that we can ask or think. It is beyond our imagination. It is truly limitless… and surprising.

There was a time when Beth and I lost our home to a fire. As we began searching for a new one, Beth offered our Father a simple prayer; something like, “Father, whatever you have for us in this, we accept it.” That “whatever” prayer set into motion a “more than” adventure. You can read about it here.

In the midst of that adventure, we found a fabulous house on a nice piece of property. On the morning we were to receive an answer to our offer, God spoke into my spirit, “I am not going to give you that house. I am going to give you something more.” That is exactly what happened.

Even as we, in our desperation to find something within our timeframe, began to doubt God’s promise, He gave my wife her dream home. In the process, He taught us a lesson in trusting Him for more.

God does not promise everyone their dream home. That is not what this is about. His abundancy comes in many forms. As much as we appreciate God’s sweet gift to my wife, the greatest blessing we received in our “more than” adventure was His presence with us in the journey.

The point is this:  Our Father in heaven is not only able; it is His heart’s desire for His children to lay hold of His “more than” life. He does this regularly for those that come to Him with their “whatever” – their expression of trust in Him; and their surrender to His goodness.

Humbly yours and forever His,