Pursuing Potential
Pursuing Potential –
Are we pursuing potential – or are we complacent, secure in our comfort zone? Is that something you think about very often? Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav says, “If you won’t be better tomorrow than you were today, then what do you need tomorrow for?” That’s true, isn’t it? Hmm…why would we choose to just stay the same? Is it that we just don’t care? Are we lazy? Are we afraid to step out of our comfort zone? What stops us from pursuing potential?
There is a saying (I’m not sure who said it) that goes, “God’s gift to us is our potential. Our gift to God is pursuing it.” How can we be obedient to grow in wisdom and seek to fulfill our God given potential?
Steps toward Pursuing Potential:
- Love the truth. God’s word is truth and in it we learn that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God has given each of us gifts and talents. We all have strengths. Why is it that we spend so much of our time dwelling on our weaknesses? Why would we not just simply embrace who God has created us to be – celebrating our talents and our strengths? Once we do that we can get busy growing and becoming the best “ME” we can possibly be.
- We should be a constant student – investing time in learning and growing. Want to hear an almost unbelievable statistic? Can you believe that 42% of college graduates have not read a book since they graduated from college? That is crazy to me. I am a reader. John Maxwell says, “Leaders are readers”. Whether you are leading thousands or you are leading the most precious person in the world – your child or children, pursuing wisdom is a must. Grab a good book and invest a few minutes in yourself. Fiction is fun, but there are so many Bible studies, leadership books and self-improvement books that will rock your world! We should make sure they are Biblically based and keep us on the right path.
- We need good friends and we need a mentor. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
God desires for us to fellowship with other Christians so we can encourage each other in our daily walk with Christ. We make each other stronger and sharper. We should fill our life with good friends and the quickest way to do that is by learning to be a friend to others. As we reach out to encourage and love others, we will find that love and encouragement coming back to us in the form of friendship.
4. We should pursue our dreams. God has placed our dreams in our heart. We should seek Him first – seeing His wisdom and His direction. As we define our dream, we should exercise our faith and start moving toward it. Scary? Lack confidence that you can live your dream? Well, remember – we love the truth and the truth in the Bible tells us…
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask, or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us.” Ephesians 3:20
I am praying for you today – praying that you will pursue potential – your God given potential. Together we can learn to love the truth and believe the truth about who we are. We can pursue wisdom by investing in ourselves and reading and studying. We can fill our life with Christian friends who will encourage us in our daily walk. Lastly, we can get busy pursing our dreams that God has placed in our hearts. God is so good and He has so many blessings He will lovingly bestow on us. We just need to shake off our complacency and get excited about pursuing potential!
Where will YOU start?