The Peace of Limitation

Why is that we believe in the lie of human's unlimited potential.  This is one of the biggest undercurrents of our culture in the U.S. is it not?  Have you not heard a thousand times something along the lines of, "You can do anything, if you just believe!  You can soar to the highest heights!  The sky is the limit!"?  In one of Matt Chandler's sermons, he said, "Man loves man."  It is true.  How often have we heard presidents speak to the "power of the human spirit"?  Oh, you mean the power to kill each other by the millions?  Horde our money while others starve?  Yes, I have seen that power often, every time I look in the mirror actually.  Yet, we all know that is not the context.  This belief we keep pushing about our own legacies, our own abilities, they are silly.  I can believe that I can fly like Peter Pan all day long, but it ain't  gonna happen.  I know, spent many of my formative years working my faith up so that it was strong enough to allow me such a power.  Don't laugh, I liked Disney cartoons as much as the next kid!  Darkwing Duck was the man... or Duck... he was cool, you know what I am saying! (wink)  So powerful is peer pressure, that while I would attest the limited power of man as being silly, the notion still managed to cling to me in small ways, and I see it do so in the speech of others as well.  Much of what I have heard from pulpits has been of this nature.  

The most frustrating part of any lie is that it seems to offer something great, something that will make you happy.  Then, once you see the lie, and stop believing it, there is a certain anger that comes from being duped.  God has been faithful in releasing me of this lie, at least to some extent.  More and more, I am seeing that I am very, very limited.  At first it was frustrating to give up the lie, as there seemed to be a loss of happiness that would surely follow.  Wrong.  Instead, I have found the most amazing sense of peace.  The burden that comes with unreal expectations is gone.  How much more does this burden feel on the back of someone who full out believes this stuff, not just has bits of seeping in?  So much greater has my passion for God been.  It is so much easier to submit to, and thus grow more intimate with, a God that demands submission.  How much sharper is my vision when I look to His face.  Yes, it is still blurred by much else, but it is better, and that warms my heart to no end, and that is what I want for you too!  In the end, our only lasting legacy will be the one we have in heaven.  I can't even recall the names of one of my great great grandparents.  Not one.  Their memory is gone from this earth.  So will mine be, and so will yours.  Let us then submit our lives to Christ then, who will never forget our names.  He saw our faces before the even were.  Praise Him!