So there is something that caught my attention in one of my readings for class (I am paraphrasing exceedingly). The story was written by Mark Twain, and it was about a guy who died and went to heaven. When he got to heaven, he asked St Peter, "Who is the greatest general that ever lived?" He pointed to a guy, and told the man that was him. The guy replied that he knew him and that he was a common laborer. With that, St. Peter replied that if he would have tried, he would have been the greatest general. What this made me think about is how we could be destined for amazing things, but we never utilize the talents that we have.
Those of you that have known me know that for years I went back and forth on what I wanted to do with my life. In high school, I abhorred algebra, but I spent so much time working on it that it took away from the classes that I was actually good at. I excelled in History and in German, but spent so much time doing Algebra instead of fine tuning those skills. When I finally rid myself of it spring of senior year, I was able to devote the time I needed to work on my strengths. I ended up going to college not knowing what to pursue because I was so busy trying to fix what I was bad at.
I can see that in my life in the church as well. Much of my Christian life, I found myself getting prodded by people who have the prophetic gifting. The gifts I get told I have the most frequently are teaching, wisdom and exhortation. But instead of considering that, I was told that I needed to give prophetic words or else I could not be on the youth ministry team. I was told that I had to speak in tongues or else I might not be a Christian. I told them that 1 Corinthians has a huge chunk devoted to refuting the dominance of certain gifts, and that we are all needed to form a cohesive body. Paul actually says that some my speak in tongues, not all. Needless to say, I put them in my rearview rather quickly.
As I have been doing my thesis and looking at Spiritual Gifts, I have come to realize that we need to become more cognizant of what our strengths are, and be able to use them properly. For me, I started teaching regularly to become a better teacher. I took a position in my church where I could use my wisdom and encouragement to help people reach their potential. I always knew that I was not a prophetically strong person, and thats okay. So I guess what I am saying to you today, is just because you might not be awesome at something, its okay. Because there is something that you are amazing at and I hope that you do not let anyone get in your way from becoming a catalyst by doing it.
There are somethings in life that you need to adjust. so don't get me wrong, but I ask that you do not spend a bunch of time trying to become something that you are not. I was talking to a friend yesterday, and we were discussing what happens when people spend so much time trying to please others and become something that they are not. Ultimately, people see through it and they eventually get exposed. It can be exhausting trying to be someone that you are not, thats why I never really did that. Plus, I never do anything to try and impress people because you can never please everyone!
I think that will be a discussion for another day, but I wanted to share something that really impacted me recently. So the question is, are you using your talents or are you trying to be something that you are not? My hope is that you would chase after your talents, and become the man or woman that God wants you to be! God bless you, until next time!
