Limitations Are Real - Martin Wiles

He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.” John 1:20 NLT

It appeared he could do it all.

I know a man who in his younger years amazed me. His father farmed and taught him the trade—along with a little bit of everything else. Tractor needed mechanical repair? No problem. Shed needed rewiring? Still no problem. And a few years after he married, when he and his wife decided to sell their mobile home and build a house, he launched right in and did it.

Nor did his days seem to have limitations. He had a kind heart and showed it by saying “yes” to almost anything anyone asked of him. If I spent the day with him, we spent more time helping others than we did doing things he needed to get done.

But my friend does have limitations—and he did then. He couldn’t have walked onto a college campus, applied for a professor’s position, and got hired. Nor could he have entered a science lab and developed a cure that would have changed the world of medicine. He had limitations on his knowledge. He also had limitations on his time.

John the Baptist held a significant place in history. His job was introducing the Messiah. But when he appeared out of the wilderness, dressed in strange garb and eating funny food, people thought he might be the long-awaited Messiah. He quickly told them he wasn’t—and he couldn’t be.

I was once a yes man who thought I could do it all—and wanted to do it all … for the wrong reasons. All it got me was disappointment and a bleeding ulcer.

We all have limitations. We can’t do it all, nor does God expect us to. Each of us lives within a confined amount of time, in a specific geographical place, with a limited amount of knowledge, and with limited opportunities.

We only have enough time to do exactly what God wants us to do. John’s job was introducing the Messiah. My friend’s was quality control and farming. When we ask, God will show us what He wants us to do, give us the abilities, and provide the opportunities. He doesn’t want us to feel guilty because we sometimes have to say, “No.”

Accept your limitations, not as a defect, but as God-given. Discover what God wants you to do … and do it.

Prayer: Father, show us what You want us to do, and then give us the courage to do it.

Tweetable: Are your limitations limiting you? 

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