You Are a Limited Resource


Image credit

If you are a car, what kind of car would you be? Don’t be shy. You could be a Ferrari, a Porsche or an Audi. But imagine that, after getting a full tank, we weld the fuel tank door shut. No matter how beautiful your car is, no matter how fast it can go, you are limited only to how much gas you have in your tank. Once the tank is empty, the car would stop. That’s why, in “How to Lead and Still Have a Life,” H. Dale Burke wrote,
As a leader, it is healthy for you to admit, “I am a limited resource.” You have only a certain amount of time, energy, giftedness, resources, and money. You’ve got only so much to give, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. As Christians, we have an omni-everything God. He can do it all. Nothing is too difficult for Him. By contrast, we are not omni-anything. In fact, we are omni-nothing. Compared to God, we are nothing. [1]
It’s not that we just have limited resource. We ourselves are a limited resource. Just as we try to save on gas in driving (like going easy on the gas pedal) when we realize that our tank is near empty and the next gas station is so far away, so also we should make the most of our lives once we accept the truth that we are a limited resource.

Image credit

That ought to humble us, that is, to make us depend on God’s sufficiency rather than our self-sufficiency. To rely on His resources rather than our own. Yes, we are limited. But, He is unlimited. 
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, NLT. Emphasis added.)
With all their youthful energy, our children might find it hard to depend on God. But, they still have to see that they are a limited resource, too.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31, emphasis added.) 
Image credit

One way to teach them dependence on God is not to deny or dilute life’s challenges. (Remember? Teach our children to suffer well?) When our kids go through disappointments (when a prayer went unanswered or when somebody close to them dies), talk them through the sad experience. Don’t scold them for feeling sad. Don’t tell them to “Be tough. Just have faith.”
How do we explain that the God who created the universe and breathed life into each of us also allows bad things to happen to those He loves? It’s tricky. Kids, like many of us adults, see things as either fair or unfair.They understand punishment and reward. But they can’t truly make sense of bad things happening to good people, especially those they love. Reassure them that them that God is bigger than that compartmentalization. We must help our children through the healing process when bad things do happen to even the most righteous people, reminding them that the circumstance doesn’t mean God has stopped loving those people, or that He is punishing them. Sometimes all we can do is simply say, “I don’t know why this is happening, but we need to trust God in even this.” [2] 
Image credit

Such experiences make us and our children see that we are all vulnerable. That on our own, we have little or no strength at all. But, with God, even in our weakness, we are strong.

“Making the Most” Step

What life’s challenge have taught you to depend on God? If appropriate, share with your children your experience and the lessons you learned from it. Is there a challenge your children are going through? Take time to pray with them. 

NOTE: This is Day Five of the devotional guide (Volume 1, Issue 7) of our church, Filinvest Community Christian Fellowship, for the message on “Pass It On! (Part 2)” last April 12.  

[1] H. Dale Burke, How to Lead and Still Have a Life (OR: Harvest House, 2004), 33-34. Italics his.

[2] Lisa Strnad (2012, June 20), “How To Talk To Your Kids About Trusting God,” What’s In The Bible, retrieved from http://whatsinthebible.com/.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Knows Judas Not Pay

In the National Geographic Magazine (May 2006 issue), in its cover story, The Judas Gospel , Professor Eliane Pagels of Princeton University claimed that the so-called gospel of Judas “ changes the history of early Christianity. ” Even UP Professor Randy David took notice of the Judas Gospel: “Strictly from a sociological standpoint, I think the discovery of the Gospel of Judas makes Christianity a far more interesting religion than what centuries of metaphysical theology has made of it.” (A Gospel for the Postmodern, Phil. Daily Inquirer, April 16, 2006) That’s why I spoke in our Young Pro Fellowship a few days ago on God Knows Judas Not Pay (A Biblical Response on the Judas Gospel). I believe opportunities like this hype on the Judas Gospel or the Da Vinci Code opens a door for us to share the true Gospel. For those who did not attend last Thursday, let me share briefly why we reject the Judas gospel. I came up with the acronym J-U-D-A-S. J udas was portrayed as a traitor in the Bibl
Read more

“Ubus-ubos Biyaya, Bukas Nakatunganga”

Image
That’s what my mother always told us when we were still kids. (Translation: “You spend everything today, you will have nothing tomorrow.” ) Image source: So, What's New ? Dionie did just that. Last April 2008, he won PHP14,125,032 in the Lotto 6/42 draw. Excitedly, he “lived the life of a millionaire, something he had been longing to experience. He lived in a P4-million house in a posh subdivision, drove around in a sports utility vehicle [which he bought the very same day he claimed his prize] , and gave goodwill money, ranging P1,000 to P 850,000, to relatives and friends. He also gambled daily, womanized, and went on regular drinking sprees.” (Source: Manila Bulletin ) He estimated that he squandered a minimum of P100,000 almost every day. He also lent money even to people he did not really know. “I just gave them and told them not to pay me back.” (Ibid) His bank had to issue him a special card so he can withdraw huge amounts of money quickly from the automated teller m
Read more

“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

Image
Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all lived happily in harmony resonated with the
Read more