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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

No Limits

This is the message given at the ecumenical service at Oahe Manor Sunday, February 9, 2014.  The Bible verses used are 1 Corinthians 2:1-16.


            There were sixteen verses in that reading, but I want to just focus on one of them.  Verse nine.  It says “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived--those things God has prepared for those who love him.”
            To me, that’s a really profound verse.  Because I think that too often, you and I allow ourselves to be defined by our limitations.  In other words, we spend way too much time focusing on the things we cannot do.  We do that in the church all the time.  We think, “Well, we’re just a small church.  We don’t have much money.  We really cannot do a whole lot.”  We do it in our personal lives, too.  We think, “Well, I’m only one person.  I don’t have much money or much power.  I really cannot do a whole lot.”
            While I don’t know this for a fact, I suspect that in here, it’s even easier to be defined by your limitations, because you’re reminded of those limitations every single day.  There are all kinds of things you used to be able to do that you cannot do.  There are all kinds of things you used to be involved in that you can no longer be involved in.  And I’m sure that bothers you.  You would not be human if it did not.
            But while it’s natural to be bothered by our limitations, we need to not let those limitations define us.  We need to not be so focused on the things we cannot do that we miss the chance to do the things we can do.
            I assume most of here, maybe all of us here, claim to be Christians.  And a Christian is supposed to serve God.  Not because God will send us to hell if we don’t, but because we love God and we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, and because of that we need to serve God.  And that need to serve God never goes away.  We’re never allowed to retire from being a Christian.  No matter how old we are, no matter what our physical condition is, if we claim to be Christians, we still love God, we still believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, and we still need to serve God in some way.
            Do we need to be realistic about that?  Of course.  God does not ask us to do things we cannot do.  God is not going to ask you or me to go run a marathon, or to lift heavy things, or to anything else that we physically cannot do.  God does not ask us to do things we cannot do.  But God does ask us to do as much as we can do.
            And while we need to be realistic, we also need to remember who the God is that we serve.  We serve the God who created the universe out of nothing.  We serve the God who made it rain for forty days and forty nights.  We serve the God who produced food for the Israelites when they were starving in the desert.  We serve a God for whom the impossible is possible.  In fact, we serve a God for whom the impossible is not even hard.
            And that’s where our bible verse comes into it.  God has prepared things for us that are beyond our ability to understand.  God has prepared things for us that no eye has ever seen.  God has prepared things for us that no ear has ever heard.  God has prepared things for us that no human mind has ever conceived of.
            So while we need to be realistic about our limitations, we should not place those same limitations on God.  We serve a God who is not limited by anything except God’s own decisions about what’s right and what’s wrong.  The only limitations God has are the ones God creates.  God can, literally, do anything God chooses to do.  We should not place limitations on God.
            And we also should not place limitations on what we can do with God’s help.  Because that’s simply another way of placing limitations on God, the same God we just said had no limitations other than the ones God creates.  Our verse says that God has things beyond our imagination planned for those who love God.  If you love God, that means you.  And, it means me.
            I know some of you probably have a hard time believing that.  You look at yourself and at your condition and you think, “What could God possibly have planned for me?”  Well, I don’t know what God has planned for you.  I don’t know what God has planned for me, either.  What I can tell you is that eight years ago, I had no idea that God was planning for me to become a pastor.  It did not seem like a realistic thing for me to do.  But God was not limited by my definition of what was realistic.  And here I am.
            God is not limited by your definition of what’s realistic, either.  So stay open.  Most of all, keep your heart open.  God gives each one of us chances to serve God every day.  That’s true even when you live in the manor or the villa.  God gives each one of us chances to serve God.  Sometimes, those ways to serve are things we never dreamed of.  But if we pay attention, we’ll notice them.  And if we trust God, we’ll follow through on them.  We’ll stop putting limitations on ourselves.  Instead, we’ll trust the leading of God.  Because nothing is impossible for God.

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