No Limits!

Americans don't like limits.

Just think about it. We created the "super-size".  One gallon of carbonated drink per person please!

When all the kids were little, we would stop by a gas station and get two of the ginormous fountain drinks- the biggest size they had. It would usually be just a little bit more expensive than one that you could actually hold with one hand. But we only had to buy two for all of us and we would just pass it around the van.  Ah, I still remember those sweet moments:

     "Hey, you are taking too much!"

     "Mom! He won't share!"

     "It is my turn!"

     "Yuck. You slobbered on the straw!"

No one could grow up a germ-a-phobe in our family! Oh, how I miss those days, back when parenting was easy!

But, back to the point.  We (people in general) don't like limits.

Just think of the all-you-can-eat buffet.  Who really thought that was a good idea? No limits on food? Really? It must have been invented by the makers of Rolaids and Tums.

And most Americans, at least the ones who enjoy dreaming of one day being on the Nascar circuit, speak dreamily of the German Autobahn.  We get a far-away look in our eyes and say in a dreamy voice, "Just think. No speed limits!"  I lived in Germany and got to drive on the Autobahn and, sigh, it was wonderful....

But we all have limits in our lives.

We have speed limits because there are so many cars on our roads and there is no way it would be safe if we didn't limit the legal speed.  I know, I have contributed three young, male, "dreaming of Nascar" drivers to the roads and personally come from a long line of "lead foot syndrome" drivers.

And there are limits to how much we can eat at the all-you-can-eat buffet- like our pants!  Even elastic can only stretch so far.

Isn't there anything without limits?  Maybe the quest for no limits is what leads people to do crazy things, like tie a rubber band around their ankle and jump from a suspension bridge!  But even bungee jumpers have limits- the length of their bungee.

But God has given us something that we can participate in fully WITHOUT ANY LIMITS!

This past Sunday our pastor brought up the passage in Galatians 5 about the fruit of the Spirit.  I have always been puzzled at the last phrase of the sentence, because it always seemed to not quite fit.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."  Galatians 5:22,23


I always wondered at that last phrase- of course there is no law against love or patience! What did Paul mean?

But our Pastor made a comment that started an "Ah!!!!" moment for me.

The point is not that there is no law against love, but that there is no legal limit to how much you may love. There is no restriction to how long to have patience. There is no rule to the quantity of kindness. There is no commandment to cut-off the self-control. There is no regulation to contain the joy.

I get to love for as long and as deep and as wide as I have breath for.

There. Are. No. Limits.

Against such things there is no law.

Amazing.

So, I can jump on the Autobahn of Joy and throw open the throttle and let her rip.

Super-size that patience for me, if you please!

An all-you-can-eat buffet serving kindness, goodness, peace, and gentleness?  Bring it on! Even my elastic can't restrict it!

So enjoy your Fruit today- no limits, no restrictions, no controls. Just think what we would look like if the Spirit was producing Fruit in our lives and it was Out Of Control!!!

Oh, that it might be so.