My Space

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

(2 Timothy 2:2 NKJV)

“No man is an island”, that is a common saying that we grow up hearing and even quoting. It reminds us that no one is self-sufficient and that each one of us needs another person, we all rely on another person as we are part of the larger human race.  While this is used to refer to our need for the help of others, we also need to embrace the other side of the coin where we also give help to other people.  It calls for a two-way understanding, we receive and we give too.  Having said this, I quickly note the context of our days where we hear a lot on the need to leave others to their own business, so that we talk of “my space” meaning that others can only get so close to the individual, there is need for distance.  Admittedly, there is time and space for the individual and which needs to be respected, however, this does not mean that one is able to live and operate in all things by himself/herself, there will be a time that one needs the help of others.

The mindset of individuality and self-sufficiency when embraced, means that one has limited his circle of influence as well as the opportunities to benefit from the help of others.  This is self-limiting, caused by a sense of self-sufficiency.  Brethren our reference verse calls us to think of and reach out to others with a goal to share what we already have received.  Paul reminded Timothy that the nuggets he was learning from him, should not stay with him (Timothy) alone but needed to be shared with others who in turn would share it with others.  Paul was speaking of spreading the wisdom and knowledge shared with other people, so that many more people receive the benefit or blessings.  Beloved, this tells me that we are not called to be reservoirs of what God gives us but we are meant to be rivers that flow out and feed others with what we have received.  When we limit our reach to just our space, we limit the opportunity to share the gospel with others, we limit the chance to show others the impact of our faith and the goodness of God in our lives. We also limit the opportunities to receive love and encouragement from by others.

Brethren, the bible reminds us that the earth and its fullness belongs to our God (Psalm 24:1;  1 Corinthians 10:26).  God owns not only the earth but all who and what live in it, He is not limited at all.  God also encourages us to have the same mindset of possessing all what there is, He tells us to ask of Him and He will give us the nations of the world as an inheritance (Psalm 2:8).  Our Father desires that we take on the world as an inheritance from Him, it is all His and He is  willing to give it to us.  Our reach and our influence will be determined by our desire to enlarge, God Himself is set to enlarge us, we are the ones who are limiting ourselves.  (Isaiah 54:2) tells us to enlarge our tents make space for more and not limit ourselves.  Beloved, the Father is ready to give us more than we can even imagine or expect, all He requires is that we are willing and available to embrace more of what He has for us.  The words that God spoke to Abraham and which we can make reference to, is that God was giving him all what his eyes could see (Genesis 13:15), the limit of his inheritance was his eyesight.  God also promised Joshua, that He would give him all the land where his feet stepped (Joshua 1:3), in this case, Joshua’s inheritance was limited to how far he wanted to walk.  God who owns all that there is, is not limited by anything and neither can we exhaust all His resources and opportunities, we are the ones limiting ourselves to our small spaces and in turn limiting who God manifests Himself as in our lives.   Step up my friend and enlarge your space.

Thoughts

Are there areas in your life that you have limited your reach?

How are enlarging and occupying your space?

To whom are you pouring what you are learning/gathering?

Is there more ground for you to cover?