Can't

If I were a fitness trainer, a financial guru or a life coach motivational speaker, I would probably come up with a witty catch phrase to make my message stick: One of the most common being, “Never say you can’t!”
I would use examples and statistics that prove how de-powered thinking will stand in the way of realizing your dreams. And somewhere in my pitch, I would have five people come up and give personal testimony about how they were launched into remarkable success once they erased “CAN’T” from their lexicon.

But on the contrary, I’m not a motivational speaker. I'm not here to get you to exercise (at least not physically). Growing your financial bottom line only means as much to me as I can help you realize Christ’s call for exuberant generosity. And it when it comes to realizing the benefits of life; for my witty catch phrase, I’d probably forego "You Can!" opting for - "You Can’t."

Here’s The Word:

Job 37:23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict

Ecclesiastes 1:8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The real job of a motivational speaker is not to empower you. They can’t affect outcome or guarantee you any success in any form. No. They’re really just trying to encourage you. Encouraging you motivates you to try. It spurs you to leave your status quo; to help you feel energized in order to strive for something higher. So if you’re feeling that I’m doing something opposite of that,(even though I'm still not a motivational speaker) allow me to apologize.

Here’s how I see it. When we’re totally unmotivated, we live in an area called “CAN’T”.
This is a negative, unfulfilling situation that we would change if we could just find the right push. Through life circumstances, we may find the encouragement to move from can’t to can and this happens when we find the push to try. Now can is definitely a better area than can’t and there’s much there that the world would classify as success; houses and cars, college degrees, financial security and mental positivity… but then what?

Here’s The Word:

Mark 10: 21-22 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

This is the story of the rich young ruler that starts in verse 17. It goes on to basically say that as hard as it is for a rich person to enter Heaven (which is REALLY HARD), what men can't do, God Can.
Now back to the rich, young ruler. This guy was far from the negative, unfulfilling “can’t”. He was well acquainted with the success of “CAN” produced from trying. But what happens when he encounters Jesus? Jesus made it clear that all his success wasn’t sufficient to get him to where he wanted to be.

And that’s what I’m encouraging us toward. I’m not as much concerned with your personal success as I am with you being spiritually complete in Christ (Col 1:28). So up and out of the negative area of can’t, but still even further beyond the realized personal success of can through trying, there’s another area: It’s also called “CAN’T”. However, this can’t is vastly different from the former one. It’s fulfilling, peaceful and transformative. Life in the positive CAN’T comes when we realize that Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to do the things we can’t. To live the lives that He wants for us over the lives we want for ourselves – shortsighted and ultimately unfulfilling and tragically still finding us separated from Him. This is the CAN’T that helps us forsake all of the ‘good’ earthly things like temporary happiness, prestige, and trade them all in for the gifts of God. Even swapping worldly wisdom for wisdom that comes from above. Earthly wisdom can’t produce what heavenly wisdom does effortlessly.

Have we beat this dead horse enough? Are we clear on the idea that I’m not trying to discourage you into a defeatists mentality, but to offer you something way better than the best the world has to offer? Not by clever wit or motivational sound bites, but by the simple truth of God’s word. Yes, unfulfilling can’t is bad, but fulfilling can is only so much better. Strive for living in the CAN’T where you cast your cares on Him for He cares for you.

We often quote Phil 4:13 which says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but if we're emphasizing "I" rather than "Christ", then we're misquoting the verse. In ourselves, we CAN'T - ONLY (in and) THROUGH Christ, can we. Our efforts can’t produce what His already has.

In Him,
Cros