Dear Friend,
We all have limitations. Sometimes, we lament our physical shortcomings. “I’d be a better teacher if I could lead my students in singing—they would learn concepts so much faster.” Or, “My son would be better at basketball if only he were taller—if only I wasn’t so short!” Or, “I’d be a better public speaker if I didn’t suffer from stage fright.”
Maybe we bemoan our character flaws and limitations with the too-too dance. We see ourselves as too shy, too afraid, too lazy, too driven, too weak, too dumb, too unmotivated, too….you get the picture.
The limitations that taunt us may arise from things over which we have no control: income, other people’s attitudes, circumstances, coincidences, even the weather. And even though we have no control over those things, we feel a niggle of guilt because we couldn’t control the uncontrollable.
It’s an easy hop, skip and a jump to magnifying our shortcomings and mistakes. Pretty soon we feel as if everything that can go wrong—is probably our fault. And if it’s not our fault, we feel guilty just because.
It’s a monkey that clings to our backs and drags us down. A misbehaving monkey that covers anything it can find with it’s clingy, dirty fingers—including our eyes, our ears and our mouths—blinding us, deafening us and making it difficult for us to breathe.
My friend, God did not create us to carry monkeys on our backs. Those monkeys are born of the devil and doubt and have no place in our lives. (tweet this)
How do I know? Because God knows we all have limitations—it’s no surprise to him. Each one of us is sin-filled, imperfect and constantly falls short of God’s glory. But God doesn’t want us to focus on our inadequacies. He wants us to know that in Christ, we are enough because he is enough.
God promises that we don’t have to let our limitations limit us, because his grace is sufficient to make up for all that we aren’t. (tweet this)
Allow him to silence the voice of the accuser who whispers worthless words into our hearts—words of accusation, shame, inadequacy and doubt about whether we do enough, love enough, forgive enough, know enough, care enough or work enough. Because God is enough.
Kiss those monkeys goodbye. Allow your heavenly Father to pluck them off your back. Sink into his loving embrace—when his arms are wrapped around you, there’s no room for monkeys.
