Ability, Capacity, and Purpose
The 1989 Ford Crown Victoria LTD can seat six people. Its total passenger volume is rated at 110 cubic feet. It can hold 18 gallons of gasoline, with which it fuels its 302 cubic-inch (or 4.942-liter) Windsor V8.
It cannot make any high-horsepower boasts, because its engine has been dyno-tested to make 150 horsepower. And it cannot be expected to carry more than can fit inside its 22.4-cubic-feet trunk.
These are its limits, its capacities, and its abilities. Humans, too, have capacities, and God gives guidance on what to do with them.
First, don’t boast:
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
Second, don’t be afraid to use what you’ve been given, and do what you are able to do:
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48)
Third, have faith that God isn’t making you carry more than you can handle:
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
God formed you, and continues to shape you, for a specific purpose. Maybe your strength is luggage capacity, for carrying the burdens of friends, family, and strangers (Galatians 6:2). Maybe it’s a big fuel tank, for persevering through really difficult circumstances. It could be sheer power, through your career or social influence. Maybe you have a generous oil capacity or radiator capacity and you help grease the friction in relationships or cool people down so they can work together.
You could just be really well-rounded, with no single strength standing out from the rest. Or maybe you’re still discovering your capacities and abilities. That’s okay too. God encourages you to find your purpose and ability in him, and use it for his glory. A car operates best when its capacities are met, so don’t be afraid to get help if you feel yourself running dry. A car’s purpose is realized when it’s used to its best ability, not sitting in the garage all day, so it could be time to ask God how you can get out there and get rolling.
Whether you feel as ordinary as a 1989 Ford Crown Victoria LTD, as exceptional as a 1965 Ford GT40 X-1, as unloved as an 83-horsepower 1973 Mustang II, or as innovative as a 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E, you are God’s handiwork. He knows you intimately and he loves seeing you as you were meant to be.
With a curb weight near 3,800 lbs, Ford’s Crown Vic of the 1980s asks a lot from its 150-horsepower engine. Add six people at an average of 150 pounds and that’s an additional 900 pounds of human to push around. It might seem like a lot. But if you’ve ever stuffed that many people into one of these old cruisers and motored down a country road, you’ve experienced the Crown Vic doing exactly what it was built to do.
