Many years ago Anne and I were blessed to have time in England. We were staying in Birmingham, but were able to spend a few days in London. Of course, travel around London is via taxi, double-decker bus, and the underground rail system which the locals call “the tube”. We used the tube a bit, and each time we arrived at a station the automated station announcements would come over the loud speakers in perfect English at the end of which always came the warning, “mind the gap”. The automated warning, first introduced in 1968, is used to alert passengers of the vertical and/or horizontal space between train and platform when boarding and alighting the train carriage. It comes over the speakers at every railway station often accompanied by audible beeping sounds, and LED messages to ensure passenger safety.
Beyond its literal use, “mind the gap” has become a symbol of London and is now an iconic part of British cultural identity – you can get all manner of “Mind the Gap” tourist souvenirs and kitsch memorabilia. “Mind the Gap” appears in films, TV shows, songs, and public discourse, often evoking the London Underground experience. The phrase is also used figuratively in everyday conversation as a polite or cautionary reminder, reflecting its integration into British slang and culture. Occasionally British ex-pat friends have farewelled me after a dinner or coffee with that same message as I go on my way: “mind the gap”. A gap can be a dangerous space in a myriad of ways. It can also be a moment of opportunity, or a pause in proceedings where we can take a break or catch our breath – “While there was a gap in proceedings, we all grabbed a much-needed cup of coffee.”
Sometimes a gap can represent a significant place in life, or even loss, where an important resource is missing, or even a person is missing – “The finances revealed a significant gap in revenues versus necessary expenditure”, or, “The absence of Bill on the team soon revealed a big gap in our collective experience”. There is also another, more particular kind of gap that we know will really stretch us. This is the apparent gap we see in our own faith journey between God’s call to us to follow and our perceived (or self-assessed) lack of ability to confidently respond. I was chatting with a friend this week about this kind of gap. It just came up in conversation as we talked about following Jesus, as you do. Sometimes, the call of Jesus invites or commands us to take a huge leap of faith from where we are right now, to where He has called us to be in His purposes for us. The gap between those two places in our journey can seem very big, perhaps even illogical – even dangerous – to us. The gap is just so … big.
What do we do about the gap between the call of God and those first steps of obedience?
The gap between the call to follow and our act of obedience is covered by the grace of God. And this is how faith works, of course, and why we need to exercise it. Obedient faith triggers the roll out of the red carpet of grace. We cannot see it before we step out, but it is there.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
“… without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Obedient faith (is there another kind?) begins the stepping across the gap and the grace of God, who has called us, ensures we won’t fall into the gap. What we perceive as an uncrossable gap is no gap at all to God. We need to exercise faith when God calls and commands. Each call is a call of grace and each has within it the supernatural capability to step across the gap into the new. With each step across the gap when God calls us into something new concerning His purposes for us, we grow in faith confidence that much more. We come to gaps – challenges to again go with God into a new season of our life – and after a while we see the gaps coming and we no longer hesitate. Well, not as much. We begin to step across knowing that the distance between the first step and the last one, for that season, is grace. God’s grace!
And this is how we now walk with God. This is how we now live! And this changes everything about us – our perspectives, our mindset, our praying, our worship , too. And about how we view and experience God our Father.
The call of grace knows we do not have confidence in our own self-sufficiency to step across the gap, which is exactly why it is the “call of grace”. The stuff God calls us into is always big. He is a big God with big plans for us. It is more than we can ever imagine …
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Yes, sometimes it is scary to step across the gap in faith, trusting God to place beneath our feet the ground for our feet on the other side. I believe this is exactly what Jesus was doing for Peter that afternoon during the tempest on Lake Galilee. Having stepped out of the relative security of his fishing boat – at the command of Jesus – Peter takes his first tentative steps. So far, so good! But then he starts to overly focus on the gap – the wind and the waves – and he begins to flounder. But even here, the grace of Jesus, our Lord, smilingly grabs Peter by the hand before he can be lost in the gap.
Jesus does not rebuke Peter as some read it. No! The ancient grammar of the text conveys a different message. I sense it every time I read this story. It is as if Jesus is incredibly proud of Peter who dared to trust Him and step across the gap in obedient faith. Peter had a go! And, he got more than a little perturbed on the crossing of the gap. I have always imagined Jesus bending down to grasp Peter’s hand smiling as He does so. “Great job, Pete, but what happened to your faith?” How much Peter learned that day about faith as he stepped across the gap. How much he learned about the distance between taking that first step and stepping right across. The distance as we begin to step across the gap while keeping our eyes steadfastly on Jesus, is always the same. That distance is grace. It is always the same distance. And grace is something God has the most of! It never runs out!
So, perhaps, consider the next “gap” in your faith journey when you come to it, but step across anyway at His command. Because when you’ve done so, you will understand just how much He has done in you. And how you’re so much more ready for next time.
This is dedicated to my dear brother with whom I was speaking this week.
God bless you.
Ps Milton