This year we are experiencing a lot of rain. No one realizes this more than our Fayette County farmers. We have reached the point that the ground is saturated with water. When that happens the water has no place to go and it takes a great while for the soil to dry up.
Everything seems to have a limit. When you fill a five gallon bucket, it holds approximately five gallons, not 10. A quart jar holds a quart and if you try to put an additional pint in it, you cannot. Containers are designed to hold what they can hold and no more. Have you ever thought about that principle being true with humans? I realize some of us can hold five gallons, some a gallon, and some a quart but we can all only hold what we are designed to hold and no more.
Many people experience stress or burn-out because thy try to fit more into their lives than their lives can hold. Soon their lives are running them when they should be in charge of their lives and not the other way around. Stress is a killer and it is caused by our piling on more than we were designed to hold. Many times our reaction limits us in what we can handle. In that case it is not our design but our limited knowledge or tolerance. In that case we can expand our capacity by controlling our reaction.
God, our Heavenly Father, created us and He knows our limitations. With His help we can be redesigned to hold whatever comes our way. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 26:41; “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Then the word of God gives us the answer for our weakness. Acts 2:17; “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” Without God’s Spirit living in us, we are limited.
Even though we are all created a little different and there are different levels of our weaknesses, God’s Spirit will give us abilities far beyond what we in ourselves are capable of. One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples is found in John 14:27.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Peace is the antidote that will eliminate the stress that we experience. They cannot coexist.
These are the truths we learn at the Gathering Place every Wednesday evening at 7 and Sunday morning at 9:30 and 10:30. Our youth group meets Sunday evening at 6. Come and join in.
