Limitations

By David Faust

Have you heard of a store called The Limited? Marketed as a place “where fashion meets comfort,” the women’s apparel chain once included 250 stores across the USA, but the company filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed all of its physical stores. The brand still exists, but its clothing can only be purchased online or through certain retailers. Apparently, The Limited reached its limits. 

Limitations are part of life. Stores advertise, “Limit one item per customer.” Highway signs post weight limits for trucks. Fire codes limit how many people can occupy a building or a room. 

How should we view our limitations? 

Accept Them 

Motivational speakers say you can “do anything you put your mind to” or “be anything you want to be,” but that’s not true. No matter how much I practice, I’ll never play in the NFL or compete in the Olympics. I can’t sing like Pavarotti or play the guitar like Eric Clapton.  

The largest redwood trees top out under 400 feet. Trees try to grow as tall as possible to reach stronger sunlight, but gravity limits their growth by making it difficult to haul water upward from the roots. On this earth, you’ll never see a mile-high tree.  

We should recognize our limitations, viewing our abilities and gifts “with sober judgment” (Romans 12:3, New International Version). Our time on earth is limited, for life is a vanishing mist (James 4:14) and our average life expectancy is about 70 or 80 years (Psalm 90:10).  

The Israelites followed the ancient adage, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone” (Proverbs 22:28). Biblical principles like the Ten Commandments establish moral boundaries around worship, work, sexual behavior, and respect for others and their property. God-given limitations must be respected.  

Reject Them 

Some limitations, however, should be rejected. Jesus refused to accept the Pharisees’ legalistic interpretations of God’s Law. Paul warned about restrictive religious rules based on human commands and teachings (Colossians 2:21).  

If we speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent, we won’t be bound by burdensome limitations mandated by human opinion rather than by the will of God. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). 

Exceed Them 

Some boundaries should be surpassed. Don’t let self-imposed limitations hold you back. In the past, it was considered impossible to run a four-minute mile or travel into outer space. Advances in science, medicine, technology—and yes, in evangelism and discipleship—happen because daring visionaries accomplish what others consider impossible.  

Will you ever be famous? It doesn’t matter! God knows your name. Will your local congregation ever be a megachurch? That’s the wrong question. Every Christian already belongs to God’s megachurch—the kingdom of heaven filled with believers all over the world. If we trust God and give ourselves “fully to the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), we can do more, learn more, give more, and accomplish more than what seems humanly possible.  

How should you handle your limitations? Be realistic and accept limitations the Lord himself imposes. Be discerning and reject limitations set by human opinions. And never lose your sense of adventure fueled by faith. Push the envelope and trust God who “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). 

David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.