Buried Potential!
Hey Friends,
Have you ever stopped to ask how much wealth is buried in a cemetery? I’ll bet it is one of the wealthiest places in the world! Not because people are buried with their jewels or money, but because we end up being buried with the bulk of our potential unrealized. I think this makes our Lord and Master sad.
He places potential and ability within us and because of ____________… well, you write in the reason or maybe the treason we never fulfill our potential. What is blocking you from achieving all God has placed in you? I know this is a common theme I blog about, but I believe it is paramount. God will judge us against our potential (gifts, abilities, resources…) that He gave us. Matthew 25
How many books, songs, sermons, careers, relationships, and souls are lost because we died with our potential in us and not out of us? Do you think fear could be one of the reasons we restrict our attempts to use or do what God has given or says to us? I do! Fear is a great foe for the people of faith.
I face it daily. That is why we miss our potential – because of the fear of failure. We may fail so we don’t try. You will fail and it is O.K. Not trying is the real failure.
Leading a ministry requires us to walk by faith and that is going where we can’t see! So we must trust God, the members on our teams, and the people we lead. We serve a big God and I believe His vision for each of us is greater than we can imagine. Ephesians 3:21 Check it out!
What is stopping you right now in taking the step of faith He is calling you into? Look back – has He come through before? Leap out there; it is part of the joy in your journey!
Just a thought,
Pastor Chris
4 Comments
I hate to fail, but most of my opportunties to fail are “small failures.” If I really botch a research project at work, then usually I can still write something up based on what I did and still satisfy requirements; it’s a partial failure. Write a proposal… it doesn’t get funded, but really it isn’t a failure because it’s a fact of life that many proposals don’t get funded. And in my “secular” life, failures are typically a shared blame.
With God, uhm… When an activity that you do for God doesn’t work out, then it really feels like failure… and it’s failure in something really important. With the power of God behind you, things should succeed, right? When an activity for God doesn’t work out, it really feels like you’ve failed. It’s about your lack of character, your lack of faith, your sin, your inattentiveness to what God’s been telling you. That kind of failure hits the heart of who you are and involves the most important thing in life. It’s hard to take… and it’s easy to be gunshy about trying.
Usually, I like to have some uplifting ending and share some encouragement that I’ve learned when I post in a blog. I really don’t have any positive ending to put here. I haven’t figured this out. After failure in God’s work, I usually spend time licking my wounds and confessing my sin to God… and eventually I get hope and try again.
Any thoughts anyone?
Andy Kercher.
Andy,
This is something I recently wrote down, let me know if it helps:
It’s terrible how so many people think of fruit as the things we do or accomplish instead of what the bible calls fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. (Gal. 5:22)
Why is this? God’s word is clear about where fruit comes from – “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5
We would much rather be in charge of producing the fruit, wouldn’t we? I mean, this way we get to determine what we do and where we go. You know, God just tell me what your plan is for my life and I will handle it from there. We get to maintain control instead of having to trust God. The problem here is, that is not how God works.
God is more interested in real “fruit” – the fruit from Gal. 5:22. Why? Because He is interested in changing us! Not just doing some stuff! He created everything just by speaking! Don’t you think He can accomplish things without us to help out?
Changing us means complete surrender to God. You know giving up credit, giving praise only to God, allowing God to receive credit for whatever happens. This is one of those statements that have been so overused to the point that it does not hold much credibility anymore. You must think more of God than you or maybe all of God and none of you.
I believe we all start out where Andy is and until we are broken and turn to God..we continue to think we should independently handle our experiences. When we can realize that God wants us to give up our independence and become dependent on Him..we are walking in faith. Ron could not have expressed this more eloquently.
Ron,
“… and I’ll handle it from there.”
I really want to be able to “handle it” at some point. I expect myself to be able to “handle it” once God gets me to a certain point. I need to stop being eager to take the reins back and “handle it” myself.
“…allowing God to receive credit for whatever happens.”
That’s a fascinating phrase. God allows me to succeed or fail, and it’s not all about one event succeeding or failing. It’s about changing us… sometimes through success and sometimes through failure. I need to stop expecting to arrive at a place where I don’t fail in God’s work.
Thanks, Ron.
Andy Kercher.