Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. (2 Corinthians 6:12 KJV)

If the old English surprised you, let me give you the more modern translation: “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.” (2 Corinthians 6:12 ESV) Hundreds of years ago, when the original King James had translated the Bible, it was common place to make the statement: “hidden in the bowels.”

This was not a statement regarding your intestinal tract, if that’s what you are thinking. Rather, the “bowels” represented the inner most and the deepest recesses of one’s being– his or her heart.

The Apostle makes a powerful statement in this passage: people are limited by what we care for the most. At the end of the day, if we care about something we will do everything in our power and control to positively affect that thing. The value and worth of that thing may have great value to us, but the question we really need to be asking ourselves is, “is it really valuable?”

Moreover, we should be asking ourselves whether the limitations that are on our lives as a result of those precious things are even worth it. Let us flip the situation. If we would make Jesus Christ the most prized possession in our deepest recesses, what would our limitations be?

More importantly, how would the limitations affect our lives?

I, for one, believe that the limitations we have when Christ is our most prized possession would actually free us to be limitlessly faithful to pursue life in a way that God can only empower us and have designed us to pursue.

Today, let our limitations be that of faithfully keeping Christ as the most valuable in our lives.