1 Thessalonians 4:1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge in the Lord JEsus to do this more and more.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.
One of my favorite movies growing up was Toy Story. The idea of inanimate objects suddenly becoming real, living, communicative beings was absolutely fascinating to 9-year-old me. I loved Woody, Mr. Potato Head, and Rex. But none of those characters compared to Buzz Lightyear. Buzz Lightyear was too cool for school. He was the shiny new toy that (almost) everyone loved. He was a dreamer and had a much more optimistic view on life than the rest of the other toys. Buzz Lightyear had aspirations that went beyond little Andy’s bedroom. His catchphrase described him beautifully: “to infinity and beyond”. There was no such thing has “can’t” or “impossible” in the ambitious Buzz Lightyear’s vocabulary. There were no limits to what he believed he could do. Everything about him, everything he did was above and beyond.
As Christians, we are called to love, serve, give, and comfort to infinity and beyond. When we have done all that we can, that’s when we’ve got to do more. When we settle in our own abilities, we’re doing just that: settling. When we settle, we are being stagnant; we are not growing and we are inhibiting Christ’s power that can be displayed in our lives. It is when we take that extra step, going beyond what we are physically and humanly capable of doing that we are able to truly experience the supernatural power of God. It’s because in that time that we’ve come to the end of ourselves and God gets the glory, not us. His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) He is our infinity and beyond.
And of course, the Christian lifestyle is not one characterized by only works. There has to be a changed heart behind it. We go to infinity and beyond not to receive salvation; it is because we’ve received salvation that we go to infinity and beyond. Jesus’ love compels us. His limitless, supernatural, unearthly love. He Himself exemplified the idea of going beyond one’s self by dying for the sins of the world. He didn’t have redeem us, but because of His love, He did. He truly went to infinity and beyond because that what it took to reconcile us to our Father. And it is that same self-sacrificial attitude and drive to do whatever it takes to share God’s love that is living in us, His followers, that we are to tap into in order to reach out to those lost in the world.