Every semester I encounter the same
problem. My problem is that there are only a hundred and sixty-eight hours in a
week and that I am one person who can only do so much during that time. Every
semester I tell myself that I am going to pull back, take less
responsibilities, and manage my time better. Some semesters I succeed, others I
fail. When I overschedule my time with obligations, I find that some commitment
or relationship suffers or slips through the crack. This could be making a bad
grade on a school assignment, failing to finish a work project, or not
investing time with a family member. Not having the ability to do everything
that I need or want to do is part of being finite.
Millard Erickson states, “Finiteness
means that there are practical limitations to all of our accomplishments.”[1]
I want to examine two aspects of finiteness: first, that finiteness is good and
second, that finiteness is one way that God gives man freedom.
In the beginning, God created man. He
made man in His image by giving man dominion and creative ability, but He did
not make man exhaustively like Himself. He did not make man infinite. Man is
not omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent. He is bound by time and space, that
is, he is finite. Inherently, mankind is a being with limitations and it is in
this state, prior to sin entering the world, that God declared mankind good.
Limitations are not normally viewed as
good. The speed limit is sixty-five miles per hour; I want to go eighty. The
legal drinking age is twenty-one, but I wanted to drink in high school. Limitations
are viewed as bad because they prohibit my individual freedom. Yet, most
limitations are placed for my good. The speed limit of sixty-five miles per
hour keeps me and others safe on a the highway. The legal drinking age of
twenty-one inhibits young individuals from making immature decisions with
alcohol. Even manmade limitations help protect mankind and give him freedom to
live.
When God created man He placed him in the
Garden of Eden, and commanded him to not eat of one tree. “The Lord God took
the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And
the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the
garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die’” (Gen. 2:15-17). While these
verses normally are referenced for what God did not allow Adam and Eve to do,
notice what He did let them do. They
worked and watched over the garden. They could eat from any tree. The lone
prohibited tree was not to deny them freedom or goodness, but to mark out what was
harmful for them and what was outside of what they were created to be.
Which brings me to my second point, limitations
give mankind freedom because they delineate what we are not to do or be. When
we step outside of these limitations, then we hinder, distort, or lose the
freedom originally given to us. When we step outside of these limitations, we
attempt to become something that God never intended us to become.
How does my finiteness influence how I oversee
college housing students? First, the limitations placed on me both by God and
by my employer help delineate what I do not need to do and be. They relieve me
of an infinite burden that is not mine. I am not god, nor should I attempt to
be in my students’ lives. The job description given by my employer helps to
guide me toward actions that I am to accomplish. These limitations give me
freedom to work toward the purpose of why I am
in this position.
Second, because I realize that there are
practical limitations to my abilities, I must be humble with self-expectations.
There is only so much that I can accomplish with the time and energy given to
me. When there are obligations that must be met but go beyond my resources,
this humility makes me willing to ask for help from those around me.
Additionally, when I have pushed past these limits by taking too much on,
trying to be someone that I am not, or doing something wrong, I need to
acknowledge my sin and repent for it.
Finally, since God has seen fit to bind
me to this time and place and these students, I need to be content in
being present here and now. By constantly dreaming toward the future or
reminiscing back at the past, I will miss the goodness of where I am today. This
contentedness manifests as engaging and investing more in those I lead. The
semesters I overextend myself, all the other obligations quickly fill my mind
and those that I lead suffer from my lack of involvement. Yet, can someone be called
a leader if they do not engage and know the ones they lead? When I recognize my
finiteness by not overextending myself, I am able to invest more in my
relationships with my residents and this makes me a better leader.
