“When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed.”
Luke 12:43 (NCV) All of us have unused abilities. Maybe you are still figuring out what your God-given abilities are. Or maybe you have abilities you’ve abandoned or ignored because of life circumstances. But God gave you those abilities for a reason: He wants you to use them to serve him and others! There are three ways you can start engaging your abilities so that they are being used for good and for God’s glory. 1. Estimate your abilities. Do an assessment of your abilities. What are you good at? Make a list. If there’s one thing to say to young people today to prepare for their future, this is it: Know your strengths and weaknesses. Consider the capabilities God has given you. If you have trouble identifying your abilities, ask someone close to you for help! 2. Dedicate your abilities. “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him” (Romans 12:1 GNT). Tell God, “You gave me these abilities. Now I’m going to give them back to you. I want to use them for the purpose for which you gave them to me.” 3. Cultivate your abilities. That means practice, improve, sharpen, and develop. Any ability God has given you can be improved with use. Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success” (NIV). How do you get skill? You practice. You sharpen your ax and work smarter, not harder. Sharpening your abilities—your aptitudes, your skills—is a spiritual responsibility. God has invested enormously in you. First, he created you. Second, he shaped you with spiritual gifts and a unique personality. Then, he sent Jesus to die for you. God has made an incredible investment in your life! And he expects a return on the investment. He’s going to ask you one day, “What did you do with what you were given? How did you use your abilities to honor me, to serve others, to make a living, and to be an example?” Jesus says, “When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed” (Luke 12:43 NCV). God wants to bless your life! When God looks at you, he wants to see you using your abilities in the ways he intended so that you will experience his blessing.
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“Look, I’m standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I’ll come in and we’ll eat together.”
Revelation 3:20 (GW) God gave you a heart, and he has placed in you passions, desires, and dreams. But unless they are under his control, they will be misused and abused—or lie dormant and wasted—in your life. All around the world, millions of passionate people are misusing and abusing their interests and ambitions. And it breaks God’s heart. That’s why, in spite of their talent and passion, those people are unhappy. When your passions are misused, it makes you miserable. You might be thinking, “I’m not really passionate about anything right now.” You know what that means, don’t you? It means you are disconnected from God. You cannot be connected to God and dispassionate. When you are plugged in to God, it’s like plugging in to a power supply. You get passionate! God is a passionate God. The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in his image. God is emotional. God gets jealous when he sees you ignoring him for something else. God loves you with an everlasting love. And no matter what you do, he will always love you. That’s passion! When you spend time with God on a daily basis and get plugged in to his passion, you can’t help but be passionate yourself. You start to develop God’s heart for the world. You start to feel the way he does. Who you hang out with really does make a difference. When you spend time with God, you become more like him. Would you like to have more energy and enthusiasm? The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek words en theos, meaning “in God.” When you get en theos, you’re going to be enthusiastic. The closer you get to God, the more energy, vitality, and passion you will have in life. The further away you get, the more bored and apathetic you become with life. To get closer to God, you’ve got to open your heart to him. “Look, I’m standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I’ll come in and we’ll eat together” (Revelation 3:20 GW). Jesus Christ has been standing and knocking at the door of your life for a long time. He wants to come in and help you use your passion in positive ways. But he’s a gentleman. He’s not going to bust the door down. You’ve got to open it up. “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.”
Proverbs 3:27 (NLT) Every day God gives you opportunities to show kindness to people around you. As he does, he’s watching to see how you’ll respond. Will you choose to be self-centered? Or will you notice the people who need a word of encouragement, a pat on the back, an errand done for them, or some other practical means of help? The Bible says, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them” (Proverbs 3:27 NLT). You won’t always have an opportunity to help. So when you do, just do it! You probably have people in your life that you’ve thought about helping. You have the best intentions. But you’ve done nothing. Why? Maybe you’ve made excuses. You might have thought, “I’ll do it when things settle down.” Guess what? Things never will. If you’re going to do any good in your life, the time is now. The Bible says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 TLB). Do good now because you’re not guaranteed tomorrow. Jesus said, “All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, for there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end” (John 9:4 TLB). God has tasks he wants you to do. Don’t wait for perfect conditions to do them. Instead, look every day for the opportunities God gives you to help and encourage others. And just do it. “My friend, I ask, ‘Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?’” Romans 9:20 (CEV) Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences—these are the five things that make you, you. You might call them your SHAPE. Accepting your SHAPE—the unique way God made you to bring glory to him—means to believe God knows best. It all comes down to a matter of trust. Do you believe God made a mistake when he made you? Or do you trust him, knowing he has a plan for your life? Many of us make these kinds of statements to God: There are things I don’t like about myself. I wish I had a different hair color. I wish I were taller, shorter, skinnier. I wish I had more talent. I wish I could do ‘that.’ I wish I looked like him. I wish I had her smarts. And on and on our lists go. This kind of thinking is basically telling God, “You blew it! Everybody else is okay. But you goofed up when you made me.” When you reject yourself, you are in essence rejecting God, because he’s your Creator. When you don’t accept yourself, it’s rebellion against God. You’re saying, “God, I know better than you. You should have made me differently, with a different set of strengths and a different set of weaknesses.” But God says, “No, I created you exactly the way you are because I want you to be you—with your strengths and your weaknesses. All of it can give me glory—if you’ll just start doing what I made you to do instead of trying to be like everybody else.” It’s actually quite arrogant to reject yourself. The Bible says in Romans 9:20, “My friend, I ask, ‘Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?’” (CEV). Whenever you doubt God’s love and wisdom, you get into trouble. The root behind many of life’s problems is that you don’t trust God. You don’t believe God really loves you. You don’t believe he really has your best interest at heart. You wish he had made you something different. As a result, you have a spirit of bitterness that produces frustration and keeps you from being the person God wants you to be. But you don’t have to live that way—there is hope! Job 10:10 says, “You guided my conception and formed me in the womb” (NLT). God wanted you, and he loves you. He shaped you just the way you are for his glory. Believe it, and then trust it! “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV) Your life has value. Your life has purpose. No matter what you’ve been told by someone in your life or by culture or by the lies Satan puts in your head, you are infinitely precious to God. He thought of you, he made you to love you, and he cares about every detail of your life. Your life reveals God’s purpose and shows his glory. You are valuable, no matter who you are or where you’re from. And the same is true for every person, from the moment they are born. We’re all differently abled and gifted, but God looks at us the same: with love. None of us are perfect, but the Bible tells us God accepts responsibility for all our genetic defects. Did you know that? It doesn’t include the problems in our lives that we brought on ourselves because of poor choices. But all of the genetic weaknesses you didn’t have any say in are part of how God shaped you for a purpose. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (NIV). God accepts responsibility because he has a bigger perspective than any human. He can see what we can’t see. And he loves each of us for our potential to do the great things he has planned for us, regardless of our hang-ups. God isn’t going to compare you with anybody else. He made you to be you. You are his masterpiece. He’s looking at how you use your spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities. And, he’s going to help you reach your unique potential. Don’t waste any more time thinking you don’t have something to offer the world or comparing yourself to other people. You were shaped by God for a great purpose! “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
James 1:19 (NIV) You can save yourself a lot of pain and heartache if you follow one simple rule: Slow down when you’re angry or hurt. The Bible says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19 NIV). Yet, usually we do just the opposite. We’re quick to speak, slow to listen, and swift to become angry. That’s backward! But if you do the first two parts of the verse—being slow to speak and quick to listen—the last part will be automatic. You’ll find yourself becoming angry less often and less naturally. This is an important principle the Bible emphasizes over and over again:
How can you slow down and think before rushing to an angry response? Use the acronym T.H.I.N.K. to remember these five important questions to ask before you react in anger.
It’s not enough to only slow down when you’re angry. You also need to take the extra time to T.H.I.N.K. about what to say or do next. Try it, and you’ll see how a slow, calm response will help bring peace to a conflict. “Run from all these evil things.”
1 Timothy 6:11 (NLT) Do you have an emergency plan for getting away when you’re tempted? Do you have preventative strategies to help you stay away from your biggest temptations? If you don’t have those things, you need them now! First, your emergency plan. When you find yourself tempted, you need a panic button, an emergency plan. The Bible is clear about what that emergency plan is: You run. 1 Timothy 6:11 says, “Run from all these evil things” (NLT). The Bible says you need to move quickly out of any situation that causes you temptation. Never argue with a temptation. You’ll always lose. Emotions will take over, and emotions aren’t always logical. No matter the temptation, you have to get away. It could be a temptation to cheat in business. It could be a sexual temptation. But your response should be the same: Get out. But even better than running from temptation is to prevent temptation in the first place. Another way to say that is this: If you don’t want to get stung, stay away from the bees. A listen to tell teenagers, “Don’t decide in the back seat of a car that you’re going to be sexually pure and save yourself for marriage.” You must make a preventative strategy in advance and not put yourself in the tempting situation. If you end up in the back seat of a car, you’re going to move by your glands, not your plans. Hormones will kick in, and you’ll be overwhelmed. The same principles apply throughout life. If you know you get short-tempered with your children when you’re tired, develop a preventative strategy. Set an earlier bedtime for your kids or have some quiet time for everyone at the time of day that’s most difficult for you. Don’t wait until you’re faced with a morally questionable deal to decide that your business will be above reproach. Build into your business plan accountability that prevents you from being tempted in the moment. Take time today to develop preventative strategies for temptation. And when those don’t work out, have your emergency plan: Don’t resist temptation—run from it. That’s the simplest and surest way out. “You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body.”
Psalm 139:13 (NCV) God planned every single day of your life. Before you took your first breath, God knew everything that would ever happen to you. Long before you were conceived by your biological parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. It is not by fate, chance, luck, or coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. You’re alive right now because God wants you—with all of your strengths and weaknesses—to be alive. Whether your parents were good, bad, or indifferent, God used them. They had the exact DNA needed to create you. God wanted you alive. From the beginning of time, God has had a plan for your life—and he has a purpose he wants you to complete. And God made you to be you. The Bible says, “You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way . . . You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother’s body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old” (Psalm 139:13-16 NCV). God created you so he could love you—for eternity. Your parents may have contributed your DNA, but God made you. You were not just another baby born. God personally planned for your birth. You are God’s masterpiece. He made you so he could love you and so you could fulfill his purposes in this world. At different seasons of life, you may struggle to see what that purpose is. But you never have to doubt that it’s there. Before you were born, God gave you a purpose! “For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 (GNT) Most people rarely evaluate their values or question their perceptions until they have a crisis. It’s when you’re in deep pain that you begin to examine what you’re basing your life on. You may realize you’ve been living your life to feel good, look good, or accumulate wealth or power. The crisis helps you realize instinctively that there has to be more to life. But there’s no reason to wait for a crisis to evaluate your values. Instead, stop today to consider what you should value. Start by asking yourself this critical question: What’s going to last? The world seems to value the here and now. The message is that tomorrow doesn’t matter. Next year doesn’t matter. A thousand years from today doesn’t matter. Eternity and heaven don’t matter. Live for today. But the Bible says something different: “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17 NIV). Consider what happens when you’re tempted. Temptation isn’t just a battle between good and bad or what’s best and what’s not best. Temptation is always a battle between now and later: Will I do what God says and enjoy the benefits later, or will I do what I want and enjoy the benefits now? The Bible teaches us to “fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18 GNT). Whether you’re in a crisis or not, take some time to evaluate what you’re basing your life on. Choose to build your life on God’s truth. It will last forever and never let you down. “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is.”
Jeremiah 17:9 (GW) One fundamental question in life stands above all others. What will have the final authority in your life? Will it be your parents? Or your peers? Maybe your friends or your career? Perhaps the books you read? The people you follow on social media? What about the movies or shows you watch, or the songs you listen to? All of these sources will shape your values if you let them—and your values ultimately determine what has final authority in your life. So, what will it be for you? God allows you to decide. He’s given you free will. Most of your authority options fall into these three categories: Your opinions: You can depend on your gut to tell you what to do. But there’s a problem with that. Studies show your perceptions are more likely to be wrong than right. In fact, sometimes you even lie to yourself. The Bible says, “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is” (Jeremiah 17:9 GW). The world: You can depend on what other people think to determine your values. However, people often value the wrong things. For instance, the world emphasizes beauty over character, tells you to pursue whatever feels good, and declares that whoever has the most possessions wins. You’re bombarded with these worldly values through all sorts of media—so much so that it’s easy to start thinking God put you on this planet to look good, feel good, and get stuff. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! God’s Word: God’s Word is objective and truthful—unlike your own perceptions or the world’s opinions. God’s Word says, “If you continue in My word . . . you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32 NASB). The choice is clear. There’s only one authority that’s always reliable and will never lead you astray. Decide today to allow God’s Word to shape your values. Give it the final authority in your life. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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