Freedom's Measuring Stick

Has anybody had to pull out their pistol, recently? Sometimes it is all we can do not to give up, but packing that pistol can help us keep going.

Today we'll talk about another tool you'll find helpful on your freedom path: a measuring stick.

I recently read a woman's memoir on her childhood sexual abuse and the journey of healing God has taken her on. I admire this sister and her courage in dealing with her past.

As an abuse survivor myself, I appreciate her stark honesty about her limitations and the real scars that abuse leaves. At the end of her book she describes her current state like this:

"At times I feel that my husband's expectations for me to engage wholeheartedly- heart, soul, mind, emotions- are unfair and impossible. I pray often to be an engaged wife, but my prayers seem to go unanswered. This is something I cannot do; I know that. But it's also something Jesus hasn't seen fit to heal me from."

To me, this describes the area we are traversing in this series: the area between bondage and bounty. This is the healing journey. Jesus has broken the bonds (which is basically a set of lies) that has held us captive in regards to our sexuality; but we are still not to the land of bounty yet. There are several things that need to take place before we are ready to cross over.

Back to our sweet sister's story, she says that she cannot put fruit on her belly to be eaten off by her husband and makes this conclusion: "It's pure inability. I cannot do these things."

And here is what I'd like to say to us all on this point, because we all have inabilities: When we face an impossibility, we must have our measuring stick nearby. For our own good, we must be very careful how we "measure" our abilities.

Let me share a quote by Paul Tripp that illustrates this better than I can. He says, "It's intensely human to...measure my potential. What potential I have to live through this day; what potential I have in my job; you know, we are always measuring potential.

"What Paul says (in Gal 2:20) is "Don't measure your potential just by your track record or the size of your problem. Your potential is Christ. He's now living in you. He is in you, with you, for you. And you now have power to do what you would not have been able to do, apart from Christ."

Paul Tripp conclude's by saying, "I would ask...you right now, how are you measuring your potential?"

It's a good question, one that sucker punches me.

One of the lessons we learn on this journey between Egypt and Canaan is how to start measuring our potential. I cannot accept my inability as the way things are. To do so would mean that I compromise with the enemy; I agree to let him keep a corner of my turf.

The truth is that What seems impossible for me today doesn't have to be tomorrow.

God has a very strong word for compromising with the enemy: idolatry. When we allow fear, pain, hard work, dim prospects, and the like to intimidate us, we have exalted those things above God. We have esteemed them as more powerful than God and His promises and goodness towards us.

So what do we do? We make sure our measuring stick is the one God gives us. Joshua 1 works well for me. "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you...Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Then we might pray something like this: "Lord, this seems impossible to me from where I'm at right now. But I don't find "impossible" as a reading anywhere on this measuring stick You've given me. I don't know when and I sure don't know how, but one day, Lord, I'm believing that I'm going to...well, say lie naked and let my husband eat fruit off of me. And I'm going to like it."

I've been down the road of compromise and I don't care much for where it leads. If my potential doesn't have to be based on mine but Christ's, I'm all game.

No doubt I won't get everything right, but I want to err on the side of Christ's potential rather than my compromise. How about you? If you are up for this journey, find you a good stick from God's word...then start using it to measure your potential.