5 Faith-Limiting Assumptions (Matthew 13.53-57)
“Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?”
They knew the answer — "God!" But they could not get around their false assumptions -- and therefore severely limited God’s blessings.
5 Faith-Limiting Assumptions
“I know the full story.”
Not really -- they only knew half the story. Joseph was not Jesus’ dad! We don't often know the backstory.
“Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7.1)
“Your future is written by your past.”
Family history is not a limitation to God. The future is not a slave to the past. Your future is written by God, who can write any future He wants.
“I don’t have an answer, therefore there must be no answer.”
Just because you don't have the answer doesn't mean there isn't one. Absence of a clear answer is called “mystery.” Mystery is not the absence of truth; it is truth that exceeds our perception.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5.7)
“I am wise enough to understand God.”
No one can ever fully know God's ways.
“Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.’” (Job 42.1-3)
“I can't say ‘yes’ before I know every detail.”
Analysis can lead to paralysis. Faith, by definition, requires a leap. You don't know everything happening on the roadways before you get on them in the morning. You don't know everything about your spouse before you day "I do." We take leaps of faith all the time.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11.1)
Who Limits Jesus’ Work in Your Life?
Is it Jesus? I don't think so. Is it your family or other people? I don't think they could stop God if they tried. That leaves one person -- you.
Have you let your assumptions rob you of God’s blessings? Why not lay them down? There is one way to let God break though the limits you place on Him.
“And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15.6)
Then We Shall Know in Full
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. “ (1 Corinthians 13.12)
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