Paul Tripp: One of the hardest things is to admit our limits. It's hard for us to admit that we were created to be dependent on God and to live interdependent with other people. But when you begin to accept your limits, you can not only begin to get excited about depending on God, but you also can be free from the burden of attempting to do what you simply just don't have the power to do.

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

Female Actress: I just don't know what to do. I was so excited that my sister and I ended up in the same city as adults. I dreamed that we would hang out together all the time. I laughed as I thought about the endless shopping trips we would take, about trying on shoes together, and driving the salesmen crazy. Oh, and I thought about the diet we would try together which would always end with us numbing ourselves with chocolate as we faced yet another failure. Ha!

Most of all, I looked forward to Jenny being my confidante, my mentor, my very best friend. But it has turned out to be a disaster. I don't know what's wrong with her; she seems so angry. She spends most of the time, when we are together, either criticizing me or debating with me. Lately, she always seems to be busy when I try to get together with her. I've tried everything I know to do, but nothing seems to help. I just wish I could reach inside of Jenny, turn a switch, and change whatever has gone wrong. I wish I could make a difference. I wish I could, but I don't know what to do.

Music: "All Along The Watchtower" by Bob Dylan

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke
There are many (here) among us who feel (think) that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, because the hour is getting late
Hey! Hey! Hey!
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too

Kate Crowley: You are listening to Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp. Paul has been bringing insights from his new series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World," and there's more to come. Remember, you can now hear Paul each weekday at 11 A.M. on WFIL. Paul's desire is to bring to light the help you can find in Jesus Christ. So, be sure and let your friends know about this ministry.

For a look at resources available on our website, including an exciting new book by Paul called Lost In The Middle, just visit paultrippministries.org. That's all one word paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. More on "Humbly Admitting Your Limits," Right Here, Right Now, with Paul Tripp, continues.

Why Facing Our Limits Is So Hard

Paul Tripp: One of the things that's hard for all of us is facing our limits. We don't like to face our limits. Have you ever felt like there was something that needs to happen in your life, but you couldn't make it happen? Have you ever thought that what's on your plate is just too big for you to do? Have you ever felt like God got a wrong address, like there's something that you're supposed to be doing, but that someone else could do a much better job of than what you have been assigned to do?

You know, it is sort of like Moses standing at the burning bush, and he's saying, "Who am I, Lord, that I should go?" Moses is essentially saying, "God, I think you got a wrong address. You meant to burn bush six. This is bush 12. There is a guy down there who is much better able to do what you have called for me to do."

Have you ever felt weak and unprepared, like, do you ever wish that you had more power and control than you have? Have you ever wished, for example, if you're a parent, you're a husband or wife, you're a friend, you're a worker, I'm sure you have wished this, have you ever wished that you could press a switch and instantly change someone in your life? Have you ever wished that you could turn back the clock and undo circumstances or undo things that you have said or done?

Now, just think a moment with me. I'm always asking you to do that, but that is what I want you to do. Is there any place in your life where you are just trying to do God's job? Is there anywhere where you've tried to function as the fourth member of the Trinity? There are only three seats, in case you haven't figured it out, and they're all taken.

Are you accepting your limits? Are you accepting the limits of your location, the limits of your ability, or are you trying to do things that you are not able to do? You see, life in a fallen world is all about recognizing and accepting my limits. If I don't accept my limits, I'm going to try to do things that I don't have the ability to do, and end up frustrated, and angry, and anxious, and discouraged, and depressed.

Think with me for a moment. Try to be honest as you respond to these questions. Is there a situation or a relationship in your life where you have tended to appoint yourself as a mini-messiah, trying to control things, to produce things, to bring results that you just don't have the power to bring? I want to give you this concept and unpack it for you. Have you realized that real faith is not just about trusting God? Real faith is also about humbly accepting your limits. Real faith is not just about trusting God. Real faith is also about humbly accepting your own limits, and that is often a very hard thing to do.

Music: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by songwriter, Hank Williams, Sr.

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

You Were Never Meant to Live Alone

Paul Tripp: Human beings were just never meant to live by themselves. You see, the reason that I can accept my limits is I wasn't ever meant to live all by myself. We were never designed by God to live on the basis of our own strength, on the basis of our own wisdom, on the basis of our own control. We just weren't designed to live that way, and when you try, you are going to mess things up. You see, from the moment of our first breath, we are limited, weak, and dependent beings.

Boy, I was stunned by that when we had our first child. Think about how long a newborn infant would last if left to himself. Think of those early months of the picture of complete and utter dependency. Yet, admit it! One of the hardest things for all of us to do is to admit our limits. It's hard for us to admit that we were created to be dependent on God and to live interdependent lives with other people, to live in interdependent community with others. But when you begin to accept your limits, you can not only begin to get excited about depending on God, but you also can be free from the burden of attempting to do what you simply just don't have the power to do.

Now, God helps us here. God has placed in our lives a constant reminder of our dependency. It is the natural, created world around us. The Bible tells us that God built the created world in such a way so that the created world reveals His presence and His power. And God did this so that we would not buy into two very significant and seductive lies.

Let me talk about these lies with you. The first lie is the lie of autonomy. The lie of autonomy says this; it tells me that I am an independent human being with the right and ability to live any way I want. Now think about this. The fact is that, because God is creator of all things, including me, I am never, nor is the rest of creation, independent. Because God made me, He owns me, and He has the authority to rule me however He chooses.

Listen! If you go into your work room with your tools and with raw material, and you build a bookcase, at the end of the building process when the bookcase is complete, you own that bookcase, and it's your right to do with it whatever you wish. So, I'm not an autonomous being.

The second lie is the lie of self-sufficiency. This lie tells me I have everything I need within myself to be what I'm supposed to be and to do what I'm supposed to do. The created world around is meant to remind me of my dependency.

Think about this. Creation, the natural world around us, confronts us with dependency all the time. You can plant the most expensive and gorgeous flowers you can find, but if God doesn't send the rain, those flowers are going to die. You see, I'm not autonomous, and I'm not self-sufficient. I'm a limited human being, created to be dependent on God. And so, the Bible calls me to accept these five constant limits of my humanness.

First, I live with the limits of space and time. Although I like to be more than one place at once, I can't be. I can only be one place at a time, only in one period of time; I live with the limits of space and time.

I also live with the limits of knowledge and wisdom. Yet, I do sometimes act like I know everything, but I don't. There are many, many things that I don't know. I have a limited span of knowledge and wisdom.

Third, I live with the limits of power and control. I can be very controlling, and I can act like I have a lot more power than I actually have, and anybody who lives with me, knows that. But, I do have limited power and limited control.

I live with the limits of sin. Sin has weakened me, and sin leaves me lame; it makes me biased and makes me unable to do things that I should do. I'm not a perfect person, and this side of heaven, I will never be perfect; I live with those limits.

And then lastly, I live with the limits of ability and gift. There are things that other people can do much better than me. God's given me a limited amount of gifts and a limited amount of abilities: limits of space and time, limits of knowledge and wisdom, limits of power and control, limits of sin, limits of ability and gift.

Now, get the principal again. The real life of faith is not just about trusting God. It's also about humbly accepting your limits, and that's a very hard thing to do. But when you don't do it, you start trying to do things that you were never meant to do. You, in fact, try to do God's job.

And so, I would ask you, "Is there a place in your life, right now, where that is what you are trying to do?" You're really trying to be the fourth member of the Trinity, and it's fallen apart in your hands. Are there ways that your life shows that you are forgetting that you were designed to be dependent on God and others? You see, because I'm limited, because I have limits, I was meant to live in humble dependency on God, and humble interdependent community with other people.

Is there evidence that perhaps you are buying into the lies of autonomy and self-sufficiency? You're acting like you're much more independent than you were ever meant to be. You're acting like you're much more capable than you were designed to be. Are you okay with accepting your limits? Have you learned to humbly be dependent on God and others? Is your faith, not only about trusting God, but it's a faith that is comfortable with living within your limits?

Music: Isn't it enough just to have someone who loves you?

Even tho' you know that someone is so far away
Well, here I am alone again without a reason
And when I close my eyes, I feel you here with me
You said you'd always love me
And you would never leave
Sure as the sky above me
I believe; I believe
I believe in mountains high and valleys low
Desert land and drivin' snow
Like a river to the sea
You are always here with me
The world is full of those who verbalize endearment
A million times they'll say it; a million times they'll let you down
But you were different from the others who surrounded
Here with you I have a place to lay my burden down
You said you'd always love me
And you would never leave
Sure as the sky above me
I believe; I believe
I believe in mountains high and valleys low
Desert land and drivin' snow
Like a river to the sea
You are always here with me

How the Apostle Paul Faced His Limits

Paul Tripp: The apostle Paul had to do what all of us don't like to do. He was required by God to face his limits. When the apostle Paul talked about his own limits, though, he said something very different than what we often say when we are required to face our limits. Here is what he says, "God's grace is sufficient; His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses." Then even more unbelievably, he says, "So I'll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that God's power may rest on me." That is why Paul says, "For Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Now, it just sounds like Paul's crazy here. How in the world can he delight in weaknesses? How would he delight in insults, in hardships and difficulties? Well, you've got to realize what he is saying here. He says, "God's grace is sufficient; his strength is made perfect in our weaknesses." Paul's on to something. He's on to something very critical. He's on to something that often we miss.

You see, we can be unwittingly way too reliant on our own strength and our own wisdom, and when you get used to being reliant on your own strength and your own wisdom, then you are unprepared when life takes you beyond your strength and beyond your wisdom; then you're in big trouble. See, Paul says, "For when I am weak, then I'm strong."

You see, here's the principal: Because of what God has given you and me in Christ, you and I do not have to be afraid of our weaknesses and limits. What we actually need to be afraid of is our delusions of strength. You shouldn't be afraid of being weak; you shouldn't be afraid of being needy; you shouldn't be afraid of being dependent; you should be afraid of feeling that you're strong, and independent, and all too capable.

Paul says something very amazing here. He says that he is so confident in God's grace, he is so completely confident in God's grace, that he can rejoice even in his weaknesses. Why? Because it is in those moments of personal weakness that he actually experiences the depth of God's power and the reliability of God's help.

And so, I would ask you, how are you doing with accepting your limits? How are you doing with embracing your weaknesses? Are you able to celebrate the moments where you are taken way beyond what you're able to do because those are the very moments where you experience God's grace? Admit it. It's hard to be weak. Admit it. It's hard to face your limits, but when you do that, you begin to realize how great God's grace is and how near He is every day.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: Maybe you're thinking, "Okay, Paul, I've understood what you've said today. I sort of get the concept of accepting my limits, and I sort of get the concept that, in the moment when I'm accepting my limits and facing my weaknesses, those are the moments where I most powerfully experience God's grace. I guess, Paul, I have this question: How do I know, how do I know when I've accepted my limits? How do I know when I'm comfortably living on the basis of the grace that God has promised to give me?"

Well, I think there are some signs. First, if you're living in your limits and relying on God's grace, you won't panic when the situations and relationships of life reveal your weaknesses. Second, you won't try to do things that you were never created to do, or in other words, you won't spend your time trying to do God's job. Third, you will spend more time celebrating God's grace and help than you'll spend mourning your own weaknesses or buying in0to the delusions of your strength. And last, you will be increasingly committed to humble, honest, interdependent community with others.

You see, you really can accept your limits, and you really can admit your weaknesses. It is, in fact, how you were meant to live, in constant dependency on God who will be with you every moment and will give you what you need to do what He's called for you to do.

Kate Crowley: "Finding Strength in Weakness," Paul Tripp's "Survival Skills for a Fallen World" on today's edition of Right Here, Right Now. In his latest book, Lost In The Middle, Paul Tripp explains how you can follow your pain to the path of God's grace. That's Lost In The Middle, available at our website, paultrippministries.org. That's all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

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If you would like to hear Paul in person at your church or an event, go to the 'Events" link at paultrippministries.org. That's T-R-I-P-P. Tomorrow, Paul continues his look at "Survival Skills for a Fallen World"..."A Look at Finding God's Will for Your Life."

Goodbye for now. This is Kate Crowley, and for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, we want to remind you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now.