Worthy Goals

At 29,029 feet above sea level, Mount Everest is recognized as the highest peak in the world. It is also the most deadly, having claimed the lives of 220 climbers (as of 2012). On Mount Everest death strikes in many ways. It can come from oxygen deprivation and exhaustion (the air pressure at the summit is only 1/3 that of sea level – making every step agonizing). Death can also come from hypothermia (temperatures of minus 50 F are typical). Falls are another big killer on Mount Everest (the ice sheets and glaciers on Everest are riddled with 100-feet-deep crevasses that are hidden by snow).

So why do so many people every year risk their lives to reach “the roof of the world?” Because it’s there? Because it’s the highest? Because it’s a challenge? Because reaching the top will prove we’re so much better than the vast majority of humanity who cannot reach it?  

Russian Cosmonaut, Yuri Malenchenko, took a photo of Saser Muztagh from 250 miles above the earth. Saser Muztagh is only 4,000 feet shorter than Everest. Yet at 250 miles, the one mile difference is easily mistaken as NASA initially did. From a much higher perspective Saser Muztagh, and by extension Mt Everest, looks like nothing more than the textured surface of a spackled ceiling. His photo makes one wonder, “Is it really so important to risk life and limb for such limited goals when there are higher heights to be attained?” 

All of us have the opportunity for friendship with the Almighty. We can personally know the Creator of a universe that is 25 billion light years from end to end, yet fits neatly in the palm of His hand. We have the opportunity to be part of His great redemptive plan and to live lives pleasing to Him. All of us can spend this fleeting life for His great cause which will count for all eternity. We have the opportunity to take hold of eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus and live in this troubled world with the assurance that heaven is our destiny. Aren’t these far higher goals, goals worth risking everything for?  

The Scripture says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven, none of my earthly pursuits have brought any lasting fulfillment. They have all disappointed me and I still find myself yearning for something, longing for someone beyond my own existence. Dear Lord, I open the door of my heart to You. Please come into my life, cleanse my sin-stained heart, and take charge of my life, my future, my destiny. Amen.