Listen to the message

“There is a fundamental spiritual struggle at work here. Our dislike for limits is, at heart, the struggle of a creature who wants to be the Creator. At the heart of recovery for many of us is the struggle to acknowledge our creatureliness. Creatures have limits. Creatures are finite. Creatures get tired. Creatures cannot take care of everything. Accepting the limitations which are appropriate to a creature is for many of us an important step toward accepting God as our Creator. The disciplines of recovery
involve learning practical ways to identify and respond to our limits.”
Dale and Juanita Ryan, “Rooted in God’s Love, p. 117.

Premise: Sometimes our “need” drives us to ignore important
warning signs – which leads to lousy loving.

Antidotes to shame-filled loving

• Being a creature made from dust does not equal being a person not worthy of dignity, respect, and mutually satisfying relationships.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:12-13

• We are not in the business of trying to “make up for all that we lack” – God does that.

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. Matthew 14:17-18

“I [Paul] pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:13 NIV

I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! Mark 9:24 NIV

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. Mark 16:8 NIV

When we…

• accept “less than” relationships we are not living with God’s healthy parameters for us
• medicate our “pain” without the ultimate healer to have His way with us
• aren’t honest with ourselves in order to avoid appropriate correction
• allow others to do for us what we are responsible to do for ourselves
• do for others what they need to learn how to do for themselves
• quit five minutes before the miracle
• “keep the peace” at any price
• make excuses for ourselves or others
• decide for ourselves the “rightness” or the “wrongness” of something
• when we ignore all other voices except the ones that echo our own desires
• ignore the limits that come with being “dust” creatures
• ignore hard truths…we will be lousy lovers.

What limits do you need to start heeding?