“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
James 1:22 (NIV) We’ve been looking at Mark 12:30: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (NLT). One way to restate this verse is love God with all your talk, all your feelings, all your thinking, and all your doing. Although every person is called to do all of these things, God created each person to be stronger in one area. That means God has shaped you more naturally to be a talker (heart), feeler (soul), thinker (mind), or doer (strength). Today let’s look at the thinkers, who most readily love God with their minds. Do you know that you can love God with your intellect? When you develop and strengthen your mind, it’s an act of worship. One way you can recognize a thinker is by this: When thinkers become believers, they fall in love with the Bible. Psalm 119:97 says, “How I love your law! I think about it all day long” (GNT). There is no other book in the world like the Bible! It has the answers to life’s questions, including why God put you here on earth. We need thinkers—because the world needs consideration. Somebody has to be thinking through complex issues and the implications of what the rest of us are doing. We need people who think through tough problems and bring solutions to the table. But thinkers need to be careful to also practice humility. The Bible says, “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom” (Proverbs 3:7 NLT). Why? Because God is God, and you’re not. Humility is a choice. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord” (NIV). Humility is something you do to yourself. And it’s not denying your strengths; it’s being honest about your weaknesses. Thinkers also need to be careful to practice what they know. If you know it, then do it! James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (NIV). Your personality is unique and precious to God. When you use it to serve him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you bring him glory!
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“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
Psalm 42:1 (NIV) There are different ways you can love God. You can find these ways in Mark 12:30: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (NLT). We all love God in all four of these ways, but each of us tends more naturally toward one than the others. God has shaped you primarily to be a talker, a feeler, a thinker, or a doer. Talkers most easily love God with their hearts. Feelers love God with their souls. Thinkers love God with their minds. Doers love God with their strength. Today we’re going to focus on the feelers—people who are strongest at loving God with all their soul. The world can’t get by just on communication from talkers, consideration from thinkers, and contribution from doers. We also need the compassion of the feelers who love God best with their souls. The word “soul” is used many different ways in the Bible. But most of the time, it’s used as a synonym for emotions. You see this a lot in the Psalms. Psalm 42:1 says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God” (NIV). Every emotion known to humanity is in Scripture. The Bible talks about souls that are downcast, disturbed, satisfied, yearning, troubled, forlorn, joyful, bitter, thirsty, hungry, rejoicing, and delighted. Can you hear the passion in those words? Soul people feel their emotions. Can you guess who else feels emotions? God. He gets angry, happy, sad, and everything in-between. You have emotions because you were made in God’s image. God is passionate, and feelers represent that part of him in the world. They care deeply about issues, about people, and about knowing God. They can empathize with other people’s pain and problems. They’re great examples of Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (NLT). Feelers offer God’s compassion to the world. But, just like every other personality, they have their weaknesses. Feelers tend to be manipulated by their moods. Instead, they need to let God lead them. The Bible says, “Let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature” (Galatians 5:16 NLT). When feelers are led by God’s Spirit, they still have feelings—but they’re not controlled by them. They let God’s Spirit lead them in deciding which feelings to follow and which to resist. If you’re a feeler, be a Spirit-led one. Let God guide you to share with the world the passions he’s given you. “Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others.”
1 Peter 4:10 (GW) Your abilities are for the benefit of other people. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others” (GW). Nobody is good at everything. Nobody has every talent. There are no perfect people who can say to the world, “I don’t need anybody else.” We need each other. We were made to work in teams! That’s why you need a small group and a church family. We’re better together. Here’s the key to success: Build on your strengths so that your weaknesses become irrelevant. Every successful person does this. Just work on what you’re good at, and make it better. Here’s a second rule of success: Team up with people who are good at what you’re not good at. Team up with people who complement you. Everybody has something to contribute. Nobody has it all together. We need each other! This, by the way, is one of the purposes of marriage. In marriage we’re put together to complement each other’s strengths and to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. What happens when we don’t compensate for each other’s weaknesses? We criticize each other. That’s not what marriage is for. Marriage puts two sinners together, so there can be no perfect relationships. But in a marriage, you know the other’s weaknesses, so you can help compensate for them. For example, take bill paying and budgeting. Who should do it? The one who does it better! The Bible doesn’t tell us who should do one role over another. Just figure out who does it better, and in doing that, you compensate for each other’s weaknesses. This also applies to your work. If you want your business to be effective, here’s the key: Staff by SHAPE. Help people discover their SHAPE—their Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences—and put them in the positions they’re good at. When you do that, you won’t have to micromanage them or motivate them. Why? Because they’ll be doing what they love to do, and they’ll be good at it. God wants every person to use their abilities to help other people. We need each other! |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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