Four Limitations You Must Accept
By Mark Reeves
There are four great truths in human nature that have limits placed upon them. When we refuse to learn them from Scripture, we end up learning them the hard way through life. We often associate maturity with those who have acquired these.
The limitation of your days (Psalm 90:12)
In other words, you cannot live in this world forever. Even so, man keeps striving for immortality. It involves everything from the outrageous, like deep freezing the deceased, to the ordinary like vitamins, exercise, and diet. We spend much money on anti-wrinkle cream, and hair color for men. We keep hoping and dreaming that we might live a little longer.
But there is no avoiding death. “The days of our lives [are] seventy years; And if by reason of strength [they] [are] eighty years, Yet their boast [is] only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psa. 90:10, NKJV). Thus the psalmist concludes, “teach [us] to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom” (90:12).
The limitation of your gifts (Romans 12:3-5)
Or, you cannot do it all. There is a trend today to want to become a “jack of all trades”. Bo Jackson first symbolized it in the “cross-training” concept: football, baseball, do it all. “Bo knows . . .” So Michael Jordan went out and tried it, but then he had to come back to basketball. Meanwhile the media tells us that we can be everything. A young man can be a factory worker by day, and a rock star by night. The woman can be a corporate executive by day, and a loving wife and caring mother by night.
This attitude often carries over into the church. A good song leader might decide that song leading is not enough, so he becomes envious of the big-name preacher. One sister sees another good at baking, visiting, or teaching, and she becomes envious. Just as in a body , “all the members do not have the same function,” so we in the body of Christ each have “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us . . .” (Rom. 12:4-6). A problem occurs when we are so busy trying to be everything, that we don’t do the one thing that God has given us to do (1 Tim. 4:14)!
The limitation of your resources (Ecclesiastes 1:8)
You cannot have it all. TV tells us that we can have it all. “Buy this shampoo, this hair color, or these jeans, and you can have the good looks.” “Buy this toothpaste or cologne and you can have the girl.” “Come over to this realtor and you can have the big house.” So we scramble around, working two jobs and overtime trying to grab up all of these things.
But it turns out to be, “grasping for the wind” (Eccl. 1:14). “. . . The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing” (1:8; cp. 5:10). Man is created in such a way that he will never be satisfied with material things. We need rather to learn the joy of contentment (Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:6-10).
The limitation of your relationships (Luke 6:26)
Or in other words, you cannot please everyone. All will admit that politicians generally try to please everyone. But “I’d never do this,” you say. Why do you dress they way you dress for school (assuming your school doesn’t require a uniform)? What about the compromises we make to fit in with folks at work? We may easily be guilty of this anytime we fail to tell the truth because of what someone might think, to say what the Bible says about homosexuality, to explain to a friend that his denominational practices are not authorized, or to another man why he is lost.
If you are able to please everyone, something is wrong (Luke 6:26)! We need to learn that we can’t please everyone, and stop worrying about trying to do it! Just speak “not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thess. 2:4). Just think about the eternal reward that He will give!
Conclusion
If you could talk to a train, he might say that life on the railroad tracks is quite constrictive. But a train off the tracks is a wreck. So are our lives, when we don’t stay within our limits. Ironically, when we accept our limitations we find true freedom and the ability to not only accomplish much more, but also to enjoy it.– mhr