Hi, my name is Pete Scuzera. I want to welcome you today to the emotionally healthy leader

podcast. Our title today is Embrace God's Gift of Limits, Embrace God's Gift of Limits,

coming out of the recently released emotionally healthy discipleship book. Now, this week

builds on last week where we talked about following the

crucified, not the Americanized Jesus, because so much of Western culture is about a life

without limits. We measure success by bigger and better and faster, and we talked about that

a bit last week. And our entire culture exists this idea of limits. I, for one,

this has been, you know, a great challenge for me. I mean, I hate limits. It's like being in a

cage. And I was raised, just like most of you who are listening today, in a Western culture

and a media that's in a church culture that is willful, that is never give up, like

take the hill.

I mean, the great commission was, you know, dance the gospel, build the church, burn out for God

with one's life.

I remember being taught CT Studs, great quote, some want to live within the sound of a chapel bell. I want to run a

rescue shop within a yard of hell. And the models were people who, and great leaders who had a

massive work ethic and who just were chronically overextended, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and very often at the expense of their families, etc., and physical health.

But it was for a great cause. It was for Jesus.

And it just fit in well with my family of origin, unresolved material of workaholism.

And so really the first 17 years of my Christian life, I led a exhausting

pace of pastoring and leading that was unsustainable. Even as a married person, I lived as if I were

single in so many ways until finally hit my own wall. But central to my entrance into emotionally healthy discipleship was this theology, actually, an issue of limits.

That's why embracing God's gift of limits is one of the most difficult truths to actually absorb into our bloodstream.

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