Principle #4—Receive the Gift of Limits
This is an important principle for congregations to live by. Too often members and leaders want to be like the big church down the road. I call this “leadership lust” and the desire to be known for big programs, big budgets, and big buildings. When this drives the work of the church, she has lost her way.
We do not like limits. We like to have the freedom to do as we please and think we can do everything. Too many times this leads to people trying to create a “dream wish” they have about what the church should be like.
Limits says in our minds that we are somehow lacking, and we certainly do want to see ourselves as a failure. The history of the Bible narratives demonstrates how many times God used human limits to accomplish an unlimited divine plan! This recalls the limits of human flesh, and yet Jesus came to this earth in human form to fulfil God’s desire for humanity!
On the practical side, if the church does not embrace its own limits, it will burn out its members. I have seen over the years dedicated Christian men and women burn themselves out because that they have bought, hook-line-and-sinker, the idea that they had do everything for everybody to be faithful. Faithfulness is not measured by the burnt-out ashes of charred soul.
The most important thing in this principle is to embrace and receive with thanksgiving the fact that we do indeed have limits. For it is in our limits that we begin to see and depend on God’s limitless nature and resources.
I have always thought it was fascinating that companies would take on a name, and at the end have the abbreviation: Ltd. This stood for limited. A company that does not stay true to its mission and tries to branch and do everything will ultimately fail. Perhaps if we thought in terms of The Church, Ltd. that would help us realize we are at God’s mercy and his timing.
Scazzero has this wonderful insight: “Maturity in life is when someone is living joyfully within their God-given limits” (page 149). I would say this holds true for the congregation also! Even though we are small in number, and we would desire to be more, think of the collective joy we experience when we live with our God-given limits! May God give us the grace and strength to do so!
In Christian love, Curtis