Not the world's best present wrapper

Luke 1:38 (ESV)

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I am admittedly the world’s best Christmas present wrapper. I try so hard to get the right amount of wrapping paper when I wrap gifts. I usually measure the size of the box, then re-measure it just to make sure I get it right. No matter how careful I am, I almost always end up with an extreme amount of wrapping paper. I either have way more than I need, or less than what’s necessary and end up not covering the box I’m trying to wrap. Despite my best efforts, my Christmas presents always end up looking very strangely wrapped.

Wrapping Christmas presents with the wrong amount of paper gets me thinking about the word capacity. As you can tell, I don’t have the capacity to wrap Christmas presents well. But capacity is an important thing. Our view of our capacity determines how far we will go in life and in accomplishing our dreams. The importance of capacity is seen in the Christmas story. Let’s take a look at Mary and see what we can learn about capacity.

In this story Mary questioned her capacity. She wondered how this could happen because she didn’t have the capacity to have a child. She was a virgin. The amazing thing about Mary is that she didn’t let herself be limited by her capacity. If I had been Mary, I probably would have listed out a bunch of excuses as to why I couldn’t carry a child. Maybe I would have said that I wasn’t ready to raise a child. Perhaps I’d say that I wanted to go to college first, or spend more time with my friends binge watching Netflix. But Mary didn’t say any of those things. She didn’t put any limits on the capacity that God saw in her. Instead Mary chose to see capacity the way God sees it.

If we’re honest, when God tells us to do something, we usually see limitation. We see all the reasons why we can’t do the thing God told us to do. What we should be doing is seeing what God sees – our capacity in Him.

This is exactly what Mary did. She choose to take her eyes off what was convenient, what was easy and what made sense. Instead she decided to see God’s capacity in her. Like Mary, our capacity to do more is released when we believe what God says about us.

Your challenge this Christmas is to expand your view of your capacity. What has God been speaking to your heart? Who is God telling you to reach? What have you not done because you didn’t think you had the capacity to do it?

  

How you view your capacity determines your success. So choose to see yourself the way God sees you. Choose to push back against limitations that have held you back in the past. Determine to step forward into the things God has been speaking to your heart. Challenge yourself to release your capacity to do more this Christmas.

Dear Lord, help us to look at our capacity and not let it rule what we do and don’t do.  Help us to look to the amazing things we can do with You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.