Limitations are Gifts

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Limitations Are Gifts

Yesterday as I was reading my brother Tom's book,
The Achievement of C.S. Lewis, I was admiring
again the scope of his knowledge, his ability to
comprehend another's genius, and his wonderful
command of English. By contrast my own
limitations seemed severe indeed. They are of
many kinds--analytical, critical, articulatory,
not to mention educational. But my limitations,
placing me in a different category from Tom
Howard's or anyone else's, become, in the
sovereignty of God, gifts. For it is with the
equipment that I have been given that I am to
glorify God. It is this job, not that one, that
He gave me.

For some, the limitations are not intellectual
but physical. The same truth applies. Within the
context of their suffering, with whatever
strength they have, be it ever so small, they are
to glorify God. The apostle Paul actually claimed
that he "gloried" in infirmities, because it was
there that the power of Christ was made known to
him.

If we regard each limitation which we are
conscious of today as a gift--that is, as one of
the terms of our particular service to the
Master--we won't complain or pity or excuse
ourselves. We will rather offer up those gifts as
a sacrifice, with thanksgiving.