Quiet Time: No Limits?

No Limits?

Read: Galatians 5

On a good day, enjoy yourself;
On a bad day, examine your conscience.
God arranges for both kinds of days
So that we won't take anything for granted.
- Ecclesiastes 7:14 (The Message)

Limits are laced with disappointment.
Last December the ESPN/Red Bull "New Year. No Limits" event at which snowmobiler Levi LaVallee planned to break a world record by jumping over 301.5 feet of water was canceled after LaVallee crashed during practice. Fortunately, during testing, LaVallee did jump an astounding 361 feet, eclipsing the existing record by 60 feet. This jump was submitted for world record certification. [LaunchinLevi] So, I guess it’s safe to say that the new “No Limits” limit for snow mobile jumping is 361 feet and that Levi painfully experienced the disappointment of limits.

We all understand that life itself is limited. So, it comes as no shock that without self-control we often suffer the consequences of going over the limit; and that’s the rub. We don’t like limits because limits tell us that we can’t do whatever we want to do.

I’ve sat down with six figure corporate leaders, salt of the earth common folk, and wired for sound college students. All had adequate means to balance their budgets yet, practiced little self-control when it came to living within their limits. All ended up experiencing a monetary crisis. Often, as friends or family members, our first inclination is to bail them out or at least help them out in some way to get past the crisis. However, the plain and simple fact is that we will only postpone the inevitable (Proverbs 19:19). You see, no-one can experience the pain and disappointment of being limited for the one being limited just as one plant cannot grow for another plant.

OK, here’s the point: We are limited creatures who serve a limitless God. This limitless God has given each of us exactly what He wants us to have for the moment; a limited amount of time, talents, and treasures. When we live within the parameters of His principles we experience a sense of peace, contentment, and knowledge that we are indeed walking with Him as He leads (1 Corinthians 3:17).

Walking with God will limit where we go, as well as, how we get there. On the journey, we will undoubtedly be disappointed because we can’t do what we want to do when we want to do it. But, if we determine to be content with His presence the pain will soon give way to peace (1 Corinthians 15:58). We may even discover that living within limits is a privilege not a pain.

Live the life that’s in front of you

But don’t always do what you want to do

Learn from the ant which saved more than she spent

And had plenty the whole winter through – (Proverbs 6:6-8)