3 Ways to Make Sure Your Shortcomings Don’t Sink Your Destiny

Gasping for breath and gagging on salt water, I drag myself onto the cold wet sand and flop onto my back. My chest heaves and sinks as oxygen swims into my depleted and aching muscles. I don’t yet feel the gash in my head. Or the splinters gouging my arms and slowly oozing blood into the dark mediterranean sand. 

Moments ago I was semi-dry in my rain gear huddled in the ship’s hull with my friend Luke.  He clutched the railing, retching and hurling his lunch overboard. I steadied myself next to him as my eyes gripped the shoreline and I prayed, “Lord, please get us there alive.” 

Steep swells hoisted our fishing boat into an almost vertical position. Sometimes the bow pointed towards the shrieking grey heavens above, and sometimes straight toward a watery hell. 

When we were about 150 meters from shore, a deep groan, similar to the slow-motion-video-moan of a man running and tripping, vibrated through the deck. Suddenly the deck cracked and threw us both overboard. My body rotated in a blender of saline and splintered wood. What was left of our vessel torched into flames, but its light guided me to the surface. 

Reaching, flailing, and gulping for air through seaspray and sea surges, I grabbed onto the nearest piece of shredded ship. I lunged my upper body onto it. Wet hair slapped my face as I squinted toward the coast, and my feet propelled me like Olympian swimmer toward the shore. 

Now back on the beach I press up onto my elbows and a rush of regret crushes my face into a frown. I squeeze my eyes shut and release a sigh. 

This is all my fault. Why did I choose this time of year to sail? I put us all at risk. But I thought I read the weather patterns right. Clearly, Im not fit to lead this team. 

1. Embrace Your Weakness

Do you remember reading about this shipwreck in 2 Corinthians?  

Me either. Because after 3 shipwrecks, instead of placing blame on himself or others, Paul wrote,

…Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-11)

I’m praying for more of that perspective when it comes to my weaknesses and shortcomings too. Often I hone in on my mistakes and question God’’s purpose in my life.I let my weaknesses define me, mock me, and curb my obedience. Consequently, I’m stranded on the shoulder of Destiny Road, ankle deep in a puddle of shame.

Seriously, I could write a book on my failures.

But the Apostle Paul beat me to it. In 2 Corinthians the Apostle Paul dedicates a few chapters to his own humiliations, but he has a whole different take on weaknesses than I do. (2 Corinthians 11-12)

If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show how weak I am. (2 Corinthians 11:30 NLT)

In chapters 11-12 Paul lists a few of his weaknesses:

1. I’m an unskilled public speaker.
2. I’m an ex-con.
3. I’m a terrible trip prepper/meal planner.
4. I have insomnia and anxiety.
5. I have a chronic illness. 
6. I’ve been shipwrecked not once, but three different times. 

Can you relate to any of those on the list? I sure can.

2. Don’t Play the Blame Game

Now let’s dig a little deeper into the shipwrecks.

Why didn’t Paul learn from the first ship wreck and prevent the next two?

Did he ever find out who was to blame and throw them out of the ministry? 

Those are questions I may have asked if I were on that ship. And I definitely would have hurled blame at someone, possibly myself. Probably myself. 

If it were me on that boat, I may have let those tragedies sink my destiny.

But Paul did not stand on the beach arguing who was at fault over the shipwreck. He didn’t jab a finger in his chest blaming himself for something he could not control. He wrung out his robes, hiked up from the beach and preached his heart out in every city where he docked.

Now this doesn’t mean we should overlook our weaknesses and deny our tough circumstances. On the contrary, we need to ask forgiveness, ask for help and ask wisdom as needed. But here’s the key: we shouldn’t let our weaknesses cripple us from obeying the one thing God asked us to do right now.  If God asked us to do it, then it’s totally possible. 

Paul embraced the fallibility of his humanness. And he banked everything on the mightiness and follow through of God.

That was his get up and go. The fire under his rear end. God’s guaranteed dynamite power rose up through His weaknesses. 

3. Push Beyond Your Natural Ability

What personal weakness do you allow to stop you from obeying God? 

Let’s stare down our weaknesses and tell them, “You make me dynamite! Because of you, God’s power can bust through and change me and the world around me.”

Today, let’s challenge our new found freedom and do that last thing God asked us to do. Because it’s not about what we can or can’t do. It’s about His power working through us when we courageously obey Him.

Note: This shipwreck story in the beginning is fictional. In 2 Corinthians 11:25 Paul references 3 shipwrecks. I took creative license with that verse. Also this story is not based on the shipwreck story told in Acts 27. According to scholars the shipwreck in Acts 27 occured after 2 Corinthians was written. Man, that’s a lot of shipwrecks for one guy to survive!