The Blessing of Limitations
When I stepped out into my backyard, I felt like I was in a jungle. While away from home on ministry trips, the unwanted twigs that I cut back last year had grown into young trees. The poison ivy that I fought last season reemerged. I had work to do!
Five hours into this household chore, I found myself on the floor of my living room. Overheated and close to passing out, I was experiencing the consequences of a lesson that I still have not learned – complex problems do not have quick solutions. I was facing my limitations, and my backyard jungle was winning!
Great Commission work is like this: The easy challenges have been overcome. What remains are persistent Missional Gaps that are hard to reach. Complexities tempt us to work in silos rather than do the hard work of interdependence that leads to lasting fruit. Resources seem scarce. Then, there are current realities that constantly shift society in ways that make last year’s plans irrelevant.
Before you crawl under the covers of your bed with discouragement, remember that the mission is God’s. Every day I pray Psalm 95 back to the Lord. One of the lines says of God, “In his hands are the caverns of the earth.” What a beautiful picture to meditate upon! That means that the deepest, darkest, scariest things I face fit easily in the palm of God’s hand. They are not overwhelming to him. He holds me securely while he invites me to trust him with the challenges of his Great Commission.
If the mission was easy, we would not need to trust him. If we could accomplish it on our own, it would not be big enough or great enough to bring glory to God. We would miss out on the joy of joining together with him and the body of Christ to call others to the greatness of our God.
We have experienced this kind of flexibility and interdependence back in 2020 when COVID hit and brought the world to a standstill. God used this pandemic to push us out of our comfort zones to trust him in new ways. Even though many of us were confined to shelter at home, our reach and impact grew as we learned new digital approaches to the mission. Everyone grew their digital skills as a result. New platforms and approaches were used to reach people online with the love of Jesus.
What challenges and limitations are you facing today that require flexibility and innovation? Whose help do you need to get the job done? How can you exercise flexibility and faith with new approaches to accomplish your part of the mission?
