Starting Points Lead to Transformation
Last time, we started talking about physical limitations, and today, we are going to look at spiritual limitations. Remember what we said about limitations? God created me with limitations, not just as a result of the fall, but because it was His actual intent. He took the results of the fall and used it as a vehicle for His love. As Bill Thrall has said,
“Love is the process of meeting needs.”
If that’s true then I need to have needs because if I'm totally self-sufficient, you can like me, you can appreciate me, but you don't get to love me. But some of those limitations are maddening to me because I want to be loved and known for my talents, abilities, and looks. God says, “I know. It's one of those things that's going to cause you to need Me.”
For example, you may look at some people and they just seem spiritually healthier than you. Perhaps you think, I love Jesus and I've trusted Him with me and I'm still not mature like this goofball over here who seems to be on their game, and they have fewer issues than I do. Some of that has to do with starting points. Some of you come from a family where there are more generations of faith in your line. And some of us are first-generation believers. All these issues don't get erased overnight.
When I just actually trust God when He says I am righteous and holy, I am being transformed.
When I believe that He's not ashamed or disgusted with me and that all of who I am is a delight to Him, and if people get to know me I will be a delight to them ― when I trust that, it actually transforms me. If this is new to you, or if you’re first-generation, or second, or whatever the reason ― it doesn't transform you overnight. But be encouraged because by trusting God, your children and grandchildren will not experience the same pattern of issues that you have. You're protecting them so it may be eradicated to the point where they don't even experience it because they haven't seen it in their parents and their grandparents. That's very beautiful.
Remember, with starting points, it's a beautiful thing to say that God is not glorified in our starting points, in our innate strengths and talents, or our innate looks. He may use them to accomplish whatever He wants, but He is most glorified when we trust Him in those areas where we don't want it to be the way it is. He is most glorified by trusting Him in things that will never change ― in appearances, or spokes in the wheel that are missing, or because of the family I grew up in. If you look at scripture, and you look at the people in the Bible, God moves most mightily and beautifully within our limitations. So when I look at limitations, I get to take away comparisons because the only comparison there is, is who's trusting Him.