What limiting self-labels have I attached to my identity?
“I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.”
Revelation 2:19, NLT
Yūichirō Miura was 70 years old and had a history of heart problems when he summitted Mount Everest for the first time.
Fauja Singh was 89 years old when he took up long-distance running and set world records.
Joan MacDonald was 70 when she took up strength training and became a social media star for her radical transformation through weight-lifting workouts.
None of them thought there were too old to do anything.
Fill in the blanks: I’m too ______ to ______.
And yet, it’s probably not true.
Self-imposed labels damage our ability to grow. The early church receiving this letter in the book of Revelation had every reason to pull back, self-protect, and maintain the status quo.
Their self-labels might have looked like this: We’re too tired from persecution to serve others and love well. But instead, they were commended by God for continuing to grow.
ACT
What self-labels have you attached to your identity that are keeping you from growing? Use the line: I’m too ______ to ______. Then rewrite it in the positive for how God can grow you.
pray
God, forgive me for the ways that I’ve allowed myself to be labeled and have limited my growth. Help me to rewrite those labels and grow in a way that pleases you.