Week 54: Potential - We are God's Masterpiece

“We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10NLT)

“You were created for achievement. You have been given the seeds for greatness. What is greatness? What is achievement? It is doing what God want you to do and being where He wants you to be.” (John L. Mason)

Recently, I and my family were having a holiday together to Penang for 4 days. It is my trademark to pack moderately and just bring only basic items whenever I’m going for camp or trip or holiday. Accidently, only later I discovered that I didn’t bring my hand phone charger. The battery was dead after 2 days. Although my hand phone has the potential for communications etc., without recharging the battery it is useless.

You have within you the potential that God had install in you. You are not insignificant. Make the most of yourself, for that is all that God made you. You’re a masterpiece. You are gifted. You’re created in the image of a loving and holy God, which means you have the potential to reflect all of his marvelous characteristics. But just like my hand phone without a power from battery; you can’t reach your greatest potential without the power of Holy Spirit, that only God can give.

I love to read books from Norman Vincent Peale and I will always continue to read self-help books for personal developments. But I do not agreed with all of what he said (and some other writers as well, including Christian authors) when he writes, “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” That is a lie and unbiblical content. The truth is within yourself you don’t have the power to reach your full potential. Only by God’s power working in you can you reach your fullest potential.

Your full potential is found in God alone

Ronald A. Beers advices, “Your full potential is found in what God can do through you, not what you can do by yourself. Take an honest appraisal of yourself; you don’t want to be proud because of the gifts and abilities God had given you, yet you don’t want to be so self-effacing that you fail to use your gifts and abilities for God’s glory.”

See yourself through God’s eyes

In the Book of Judges chapter 6, an angel greeted a timid and coward Gideon by calling him a ‘mighty hero’. Do you know what he does? He was hiding from his enemies! At this point you might doubt God’s judgment by asking, “Are you talking to the right person?” You’re identified with Gideon because once in a while you and I did the same thing. Hiding. Feeling so unworthy. But God in the Bible knew the potential he had given Gideon, and he called him to use it, and lo and behold, Gideon the Coward had became Gideon the Champion. (Read further chapters for clarification)

 Are you just a stone?

I read and record an interesting story about how two people sees a stone in a different way. Antonio, a sculptor, chipped away at a stone and could do nothing with it. So he tossed it away. Later Michelangelo took it and carved one of the greatest statues of all times, the statue of David. He saw the potential in the stone. Yes, more over God sees you more than just a

stone. More than a mere clay and dust… He sees beyond your limitations, He sees at your potential!

“With God’s help we will do mighty things.” (Psalms 60:12NLT)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.