To increase in strength and capacity, and be the bigger person in a room or situation you do; much like when you lift weights physically to bulk up or increase in muscle strength, have to undertake an increase, even if only incrementally, in what you can carry. It's how we grow and become a bigger person, who is able to keep their eyes on the goal and not be moved off our values regardless of what is happening.
The key is to seek God's wisdom to know what He is calling you to increase and develop in, what it is that He wants you to be focusing on, and what is simply a burden which needs to be lifted off. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5) I am not a very big person on the outside, but my desire is to keep increasing my capacity, relationships skills and who I am, so that I am always getting bigger on the inside. Some of the areas I have discovered we can make a personal decision to increase our capacity in are:
1.Our faith capacity – Faith is trusting God; it is the substance of vision, dreams, and the future. We need increasing faith to be able to believe and see what God sees, and to be positioned for whatever He brings our way. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:1-3) 2. Our people capacity – Life is all about relationships, and about love honouring and serving people. The more people in our life, the bigger our capacity to hold these people in our hearts needs to be.
3. Our change capacity -To be honest I am not a great lover of change. However, I have discovered we can’t grow and increase without it. We all have to learn how to adjust and be flexible to some degree. Change is not our enemy as long as it's productive change, which then becomes one of the greatest agents in gaining momentum and moving forward.
4. Our hearts capacity – Our heart and spirit are like a container that is designed to hold love, grace and compassion. We can ”hold” people, cities, nations and the world in our hearts. But we have to grow in our capacity to do that. Our attitudes, mindsets, beliefs and values will be challenged and stretched. It can be very confronting to realise how “small minded” or indifferent we can be. However God is so gracious and promises He has, and will continually to shed abroad His love in hearts if we ask. The more open we are to His love, the greater our hearts capacity will be. “And hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, the One having been given to us.” (Romans 5:4) We have a limitless capacity in God and are far more capable than we often give ourselves credit for. What looks impossible alone, is possible with God. (Matt 19:26) Today ask yourself, “are there areas in my life I need to reconsider and adjust so that I can increase in other areas? Am I doing the things I am passionate about, or just going through the motions or carrying burdens I shouldn't be?” Today consider what areas in your life you would like to see growth in and what steps you can take with God to increase your capacity to become a "bigger person". A bigger person, who is not distracted or offended by others or by the pressures of the world, but rather runs after their goals and is becoming all God planned for them to be.
Prayer: Lord thank you that in you there are no limits. Please help me to increase in my capacity and to grow in my faith, relationships, and love so that I just keep getting “bigger on the inside”. In Jesus name Amen