Good Relationships Start With YouSýnishorn

Personal Limits

Yesterday, we talked about sacrifice—in particular, the ways that relationships are sustained by laying aside our time, resources, and preferences for others. But the sacrifice isn’t always ours to make. Sometimes, because of circumstances, illness, or even a difficult season of life, we may need to pull back, knowing God will meet the needs of others through someone else.

God calls us to a life of sacrificial love. Then, if our limits prevent us from serving, there will be additional hands to pick up the slack. In Philippians 2:19-30, Paul writes about a time when he wanted to serve others but couldn’t, so Timothy and Epaphroditus went in his place.

Sometimes the sacrificial love God calls us to in one relationship might keep us from serving in another. For example, a young mother caring for her small children might not be able to help arrange meals for her neighbor going through cancer treatments. At least not this time. And that neighbor going through cancer treatments will have to let someone else babysit for her grandchildren, at least for now when her immune system is weakened.

In other words, sometime serving in one situation limits how we serve in another. In his sermon “Right Relationships,” Dr. Stanley says , “The truth is, we are very, very limited in what we can do. One mind, one set of eyes, one set of hands, one set of ears, one set of feet, one strong or weak back—what can one person do?”

Despite our desire to accomplish more, we can’t do for everyone what we do for one or a few. That’s why God called us all to the work of the kingdom. We are His body, and each part can do only what it was designed for:

If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? (1 Cor. 12:15-17).

REFLECT

• Have you ever wanted to help a person but couldn’t because of some limitation in your own life? How did you feel? Did it change how you responded to needs that arose later on?
• What personal limits are you currently facing in your relationships?
• What do you think God is teaching you in this season? Given the circumstances God has you in, are there other ways you could serve?