I have a child that is growing so fast, I cannot keep up with ensuring he is clothed and fed. As he outgrows his clothing, he is also outgrowing the things of childhood, all in the process of becoming a man. As he grows, he is also developing his ability to cope with life.
Outgrowing things: is all about building ability within ourselves, so that we are larger than we were before.
Outgrowing is moving beyond the limits that were previously set up. Running is all about outgrowing limitations for me. When I first started all I wanted to do was to complete a circuit around a few blocks. I would look at hills and think I would never be able to do that. I would gasp for air and wonder if my body would ever allow me to jog for half an hour. I had physical limitations, but I also had mental limitations: telling me what I was “realistically capable of.” Emotional limitations of “that is enough for today” and “don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Eventually, with time and effort and re-wiring how I think and talk, I broke those limitations and now I am amazed at what I can do!
I have outgrown my limitations. Even though I know of other things I cannot do, like complete a race and conquer one specific hill; I do know that what limited me before, no longer limits me. When we outgrow our limitations, we realize what we are truly capable of and we wonder why we ever felt limited before.
In the last few weeks, I have realized that I can also outgrow fear. I know that I can now do things that previously filled me with fear, like meeting new people, writing a regular blog, teaching large audiences etc. What limited me before is no longer something that limits me now, as I have since grown in capacity. I look back and wonder why I was afraid.
Fear attempts to limit our growth in capacity. The limit of what God is doing in our lives is our fear.
God wants us to outgrow fear! He wants us to rise above fear and be victorious. (Jeremiah 42:11) He does not take fear away; instead He grows our capacity so that fear becomes irrelevant. It doesn’t happen overnight, it happens as we choose to grow. We grow in faith. Growing in faith requires getting into the Word of God and the Lord in whom we trust. As we grow our faith, we outgrow fear.
Fear is a bully. The best way to deal with the bully of fear is to outgrow him, so that you are bigger than him and he cannot touch you anymore.
What was a Goliath to me, the midget, has to become a fly to a giant, a giant of faith.
Faith has to believe beyond the limits of what I, what we can see, hear or experience. Faith has to grow, to increase our capacity to believe, to embrace the new things that God has got planned.
We so often tell people to “face their fears” but it is not about facing off with the bully of fear, it is all about keeping our eyes on Jesus, to keep facing Jesus and not paying attention to fear. Hebrews 12:1-2
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
The ability to outgrow fear starts in keeping focused on Jesus.
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