Would you like to be more than you are? Many of us would. We read stories of individuals who are more than we are, and it inspires us. It makes us want to learn from them and become more like them.
- For years, Dick Hoyt pushed his son in a wheelchair while running marathons and triathlons, because his son, Rick, said that when his dad was pushing him, he didn’t feel disabled any more. His dad decided he wanted to help his son feel that way as often as he possibly could.
- Surfing prodigy Bethany Hamilton lost her entire left arm after being attacked by a shark while surfing off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Beth was back in the water and back on her board less than a month after the incident, and eventually realized her dream of becoming a professional surfer.
- Jacquelin Gorman offered one of her good kidneys to a total stranger who would have died without it, after having watched someone on a kidney donor-list die without a donor organ.
These stories often make us want to be more than we are. We might choose a different action, but reading inspiring stories often makes us want to be a better husband or wife, a better father or mother, a better worker, a better citizen, a better friend, a better steward of our gifts and opportunities, a better Christian.
In fact, in our better moments, we might wonder, “What might I be capable of if I gave myself over to completely following Christ? What might He do with me? What might He make out of me?”
I believe there are special moments in our lives when the Holy Spirit knocks on the door of our lives and calls us to higher living. And, I believe that if we respond, He will do things in our lives beyond anything we might experience otherwise.
And because we have just come off a very challenging year, and are likely headed into another challenging year, it seems to me that this is a good time to consider this.
Change is part of God’s plan
In this context, change means “growth in the right direction.”
It is God’s tendency to start things small and embryonic, and have them grow to become advanced and mature.
- He created just two people, Adam and Eve, and expected to populate the entire earth through them.
- He created the church with just 12 disciples through whom he intended to reach the entire world.
- He creates humans as infants and intends for us to be cared for, fed, nurtured, so we grow to adulthood.
This is how He does things on a grand scale, and this is how He does things on a personal scale. He creates each Christian as a spiritual infant and expects him or her to grow, to change, to become. And, because everything God asks of us, He does so to give something good to us, He has created us so that this kind of change… this “becoming what we are capable of,” this “achieving our God-given potential,” is inherently pleasurable.
There are few things more enjoyable than becoming all that we are capable of being
And, of course, the primary area of change for a Christian is to grow to spiritual maturity in Christ. When we change to become more like Christ, God gives us the gifts of love, joy and peace.
Let me ask you. If you had love, joy and peace, is there anything else you could want? What else would you want instead? I can’t think of anything. I can’t imagine saying, “Well, love, joy and peace are okay… but what I’d really like instead is ____________?” What would you put in that blank? I can’t imagine. So, if that is what God offers us, why not accept and move in that direction?
The thing is, many of us have tried that, and it hasn’t worked. We have worked hard at trying to achieve our God-given potential, with disappointing results. So, we settle into survival mode and make the best of what we have. I know. I did it for decades.
The Bible tells us how we change
While there are no magic wands in the Bible, while realizing our God-given potential can never be easy, many of us can experience greater, faster progress than we currently are if we just truly understand some of the scriptural basics.
There is truth hidden in plain sight in the Bible; truth that I knew about, but didn’t truly understand, for years. But I believe that God is revealing that truth to His children now, in the Brave New World of the 21
st century, because we need it now, in this generation, more than we have ever needed it before.
The central passage for change in the Bible is Romans 12:2, “
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
If we want to be living demonstrations of the fact that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect, we must be transformed, and to be transformed, our minds must be renewed.
So, for the next number of months, we are going to look at how we can experience the growth, the change, the “becoming” that we long for.
There are three things we must know and deeply understand if we are to achieve our God-given potential
We'll begin looking at those three things
next week.
Invite others to join us
If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this study, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to sign up for the free video,
“Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You.” This will put them on my regular mailing list and they'll receive my weekly blogs on this subject.
UPDATE: We are
moving from this blog to a YouTube channel in early 2024. I’ll keep you posted regarding the transition. If you’re not already on my email list,
subscribe here so you don’t miss any updates – you’ll also receive my free video,
Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You.
In the meantime, while I’m getting the YouTube channel ready,
all of the
past blog posts are still available – and
you know that
“repetition is the key to mental ownership!”
We recently finished a series titled
“Moving from Checkers to Chess ~ 5 Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective,” in which I “connected all the dots” from posts over the years and combined them into a “spiritual game plan.” That series is
a great place to start.
I look forward to seeing
all of you on my new YouTube channel in 2024 to further discuss how to
walk closer with God and live better in life.
Two resources I’ve created to help build your biblical base for a closer walk with God:
