Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, CEV
Each new year arrives as an unwritten agreement between who we were and who we are courageous enough to become.
― Wayne Chirisa
Happy New Year y’all!!!
Here we are again, thank you God. Another year, another season of goal setting, resolution making, and becoming better someway, somehow for at least the month of January (wink). That’s exactly why I don’t make resolutions! But this year? This year is different. I am living without limits. Yep, that’s what I said – without limits. Aaannddd…. I’m inviting you to join me.
I recently read a familiar text from Luke 1:31-33. It was Christmas time and I wanted to revisit the story of the announcement to Mary. I was reading the George Lamsa Aramaic translation, and I was arrested by the beautiful translation of a very familiar text, Luke 1:31-33. Speaking of Jesus, it says: “And behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus… and there will be no limit to his kingdom.” My heart leapt! I quickly checked some other translations. Every other translation of this text that I’ve read says this: … and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”
Here’s my joy: when I think of a kingdom with no end, I think of time and space. A kingdom that is eternal yet confined. But, when I read “there will be no limit to his kingdom”, I think of something transcendent. Something that goes beyond ordinary limits and surpasses what has been known or experienced because the kingdom of God is within me. (Luke 17:21) This is the kingdom of God. It is not confined by boundaries or geography because it does not exist outside of us but within us.
Do you see the mind-blowing connection?
The infinite God has taken up residence in our finite beings. Our union with Christ means that the Holy Spirit is alive in us and we are filled with the very essence of God’s love, grace, mercy, power and peace in a measure that is without limit.
So often we live confined by our fears, failures, personal circumstances and the relentless tales of tragedy and perturbing bad news. So, we ration our generosity and compassion because we fear that the troubles of the world are too great. We place a border on our hope because we are uneasy over an uncertain future. We parcel out grace only to those who we have a particular liking for. We develop an attitude of scarcity – consumed by worry and self-preservation.
But what if we lived with holy audacity? What if we exercised a boldness fueled by faith? What if we really trusted the limitless kingdom within us and we became the vessels through which the kingdom of God expanded? What if love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness… you know, the fruit of the spirit overflowed in every space where we were present? Well, that takes audacity – holy audacity.
This type of audacity isn’t about personal pride or arrogance; it’s about a humble reliance on the God within.
- It is daring to believe that God’s love can flow through you even when you feel depleted.
- It is trusting that mercy can rise from your life even when the world rewards bitterness.
- It is choosing grace when offense feels justified.
- It is hope that refuses to shrink in the face of chaos.
If the kingdom of God is within you, then your everyday, ordinary life becomes a fertile ground for the limitless kingdom to manifest. If the kingdom of God is within you, it expands every time you allow God’s character to take deeper root in your life.
- When you choose love in a hostile environment, the kingdom expands.
- When you extend grace to yourself while healing, the kingdom expands.
- When you persevere in faith during loss, the kingdom expands.
- When you nurture peace in your home, workplace, or community, the kingdom expands.
Holy Audacity is the choice to align your inner reality with God’s truth. It is a declaration that, “Circumstances do not define the limits of God’s Kingdom in me and through me. His love in me has no limit. His peace in me has no boundary. His creative power in my life has no end.” Holy audacity does not deny reality; it confronts reality with a deeper truth.
Mary herself embodied this kind of audacity. A young woman with no social power, no platform, and no guarantee of safety, she said yes to a promise that would alter history. She believed that God could do something limitless through a life that looked very small to the world.
And God is still doing limitless things through ordinary people.
Holy audacity is believing that your life—right where you are—can be filled with God’s limitless presence. Not someday. Not when everything is okay. Not when you get it together. But now.
You are not merely waiting for the kingdom.
You are carrying it.
So today, place your hand over your mouth and exhale. Your breath is a reminder that the King dwells in you. And where the King is, His Kingdom reigns. There is no limit to what God can do with a life surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s rule. You carry the infinite within you. Now, go live with holy audacity.
I pray as the Apostle Paul prayed that the light of God will illuminate the eyes our imaginations, flooding us with light, until we all experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling. I pray that we will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to us through faith and that God’s limitless kingdom will expand filling the earth through our words, actions, and prayer. May it be so.