Do you place limits on God?

Ephesians 3:20-21

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Are you placing limits on what you think God can do in you, through you, and in the world around you?

I asked that question because in Ephesians chapter three, in verses 20 to 21, God through Paul says,

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Did you catch that? For now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. God can do more than we ever imagine, but do we live with that kind of boldness or that kind of audacity, if you will, that God can do more through me than I could even imagine? I know for me, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I’m like, okay, I don’t, I don’t dream big, if you will. I don’t have this openness to huh, I wonder what God can do.

But I also wonder sometimes if the limits we place on ourselves come from us having our own idea of what “more” looks like. I mean, maybe we think more has to be, you know, God bringing thousands of people to faith and doing all this really big seeming work. But what if more is simply the fact that God has taken your heart and mind, and Scripture says that previous to believing in Jesus, prior to that, we were hostile to God, enemies of God. And what if the more is the fact that God has taken us who were enemies and he has reconciled us to himself, he has given us new hearts. He’s given us this faith where now we actually believe in him and know that Jesus has died for us and risen again to give us life with him. What if the more is the fact that you are now able to share that same gospel with that child sitting in your lap with those kids on the couch, you’re able to share the hope of eternal life with a grandparent who is aging and maybe leaving this world soon. What if the more is that one conversation with a young adult who is struggling and you’re the the lifeline that God uses to give them the good news that they need? What if the more is the fact that that conversation turned into them, sharing conversations then turned into another conversation that turned into another conversation. And the gospel has spread in ways that you aren’t even aware.

What if the reason why we have limits is because we think the more has to be this big, clear thing, when really the more is more than we even imagine or different than we can imagine? You know, the people in Jesus’s day never thought that the more that God was doing would come through Jesus dying and rising again. And yet that’s how he overcame your sin and mine. That’s how he overcomes the world. That’s how he gives us eternal life. And that same God who worked the more in that surprising way then, and that same God who still gives us that, that hope of more in this surprising way today, is still working more in surprising ways for us now. So let’s take the limits off. Let’s embrace and think about today. I wonder what he’s up to, because he can do more than we could possibly ask or imagine.