Do you know what your assumed contraints are? Matthew 11-13

Matthew 13:53-58 (NASBStr)

 When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “ A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

In leadership training there is a phrase that was originated years ago:  Assumed Constraints.   A leadership trainer coined the phrase to demonstrate what happens to people when they learn something that holds them back, but it really doesn't hold them back ... they just "assume" it does.  The phrase is illustrated by what happens when a baby elephant is born.  The small little thing has a rope attached to it front leg with the other end of the rope staked to the ground.  The small beast tries to pull away from the rope and out of the ground but can't because he/she is too small.   However, as the weeks and months go by and the small elephant grows in size and develops the power to pull away from the leash, he/she has already stopped trying.   The growing elephant now has an "assumed constraint" tied to his/her leg.   Because the animal couldn't pull it out before, it can't now.   The animal makes the assumption that something that was can't be something different.   In the above passage we see the people of Nazareth who had the same faulty reasoning going on in their spiritual life and belief about Jesus.   Since he was but a carpenter's son, he could not be the Son of God.   Since he had a brother and sister and a mom he could not be the Messiah.   We all have assumed constraints.   We all believe their are things that hold us back.  These things are "learned helplessness."   When Jesus turned the water into wine it was supposed He couldn't   When God had water come out of a rock in the desert it was assumed it couldn't.   When Peter walked on water he began to sink because he assumed he couldn't (yet, he was).  Our assumed constraints diminish our beliefs.   We only think how we learned.   Reading God's Word and mixing it with faith changes our learned helplessness and we begin to see what God can do.  The should embolden our faith and set us free from the ropes staked in the ground designed to prevent us from growing in grace.