The Limitation Of The Limitless

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)          

When we think of God, we think of the omniscient, omnipresent God who is also omnipotent — the all-powerful One who can do anything. But did you know there are some things God simply cannot do? Let’s take a look at the limitation of the Limitless One.

Skeptics like to ask, “If God is all-powerful, can He create a stone so heavy He cannot lift it?” To which someone rightly replied, “Yes. Then He would pick it up anyway!” Clearly, it’s a silly question; When skeptics ask this, they are posing a logically incoherent question, equivalent to asking, “Can God create a square circle?” What they are attempting to do is throw doubt into the mind of the believer, similar to Satan’s sly insinuation in the Garden: “Has God really said . . . ?” If God cannot create a stone that He cannot lift — or if He cannot lift what he created — then God is not all-powerful. So goes the reasoning, such as it is.

To be sure, for God to be God, He must be all-powerful. Yet there are some things He simply cannot do.

• God cannot act contrary to His character and nature.
• God cannot leave a promise unfulfilled; He cannot lie.
• God cannot change.
• God cannot allow sin to go unpunished.

You see, there is nothing outside of God that can limit Him. This is what the word sovereign means when it is applied to God. He is absolute in power and authority; there is no external force that can act on God or limit Him in any way. But God can and has limited Himself, and He has done this for His glory and our eternal good. The fact that these limitations are voluntary, not a result of some outside force in the universe, makes it abundantly clear that God Himself has set limitations to His own limitlessness.

Why should this matter to you and me? Simply because we can always count on God to be who He says — He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You see, God is not like us; He cannot act contrary to His nature and character, something which you and I do quite often. God cannot lie, meaning we can take Him at His Word. God cannot change, which means we can trust in His amazing love for us always. And God cannot allow sin to go unpunished, so He sent His son to pay the penalty for our sins. The limitation of the Limitless One is a source of cosmic comfort for every Christian believer.

One final point: God cannot make wrong right. Yet God has promised to take all the wrong that has been done to us in this life and work it together for our ultimate good (Romans 8:29). God is conforming us into the image and likeness of His Son Jesus, and He has imposed limits on His limitlessness in order to accomplish His purposes in our lives. Let this truth set you free today.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!