Christian Concepts

Bringing your Potential to Light

Matt Pavlik

Satan is the Best Salesman

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Have you ever gone window shopping and ended up buying something? Maybe a lot of something?

I missed an appointment with someone recently. We got our times mixed up. While I waited for him to arrive, I went for a walk. I walked passed a bookstore. I decided to go in and look around. I walked out with three books I had no plan to buy. Maybe I should reword that. I didn’t steal them. I purchased three books that I didn’t know existed an hour earlier. I got them on sale, so it’s okay, right? All this happened without any salesman pressuring me to buy anything.

If Satan, the deceiver, was a salesman he would say, “Books are good for learning. Certainly, God doesn’t want you to be ignorant, does he?”

Of course, I’m not saying that buying books is a sin. Nor am I saying that Satan told me to buy those books. I’m happy with my purchase (two of the three books were Christian books, so it’s okay, right?).

The deceiver can make you think you’re on a good path when you’re really not. He can make you think your not good enough when you really are. He can make you think you need something when you really don’t.

Satan is the best salesman. He sold Adam and Eve on choosing hell over God. He sold that God was against them, withholding something great. He implied God lied. He could sell an iceberg to an Eskimo or a mirror to a blind man. But he doesn’t really have to. He only has to create the smallest bit of doubt to close his sale. Ssssssss. God is holding back on you. God isn’t all good. Ssssssss.

Life is God — there really isn’t anything else. God is either all good, or he’s got some bad in Him. If He’s got some bad, He ceases to be trustworthy. God, ruler of the universe, can only be trusted as 100 percent good, or not at all. Just remember: as soon as you believe God has any evil in Him, you’ve lost everything. If God can’t be perfect, then what hope do you have? Such doubts can reak havoc in your daily living.

Who are you trusting? Do you see God as all good, or do you see some bad in Him? Perhaps you believe God hasn’t treated you fairly? If so, to correct this, you must intentionally address your positive experience deficit. Seek the healing you need to experience God’s goodness.

Once you taste that God is good, even in the smallest amount, it can create enough faith to see that God must be all good. With God living inside you, you can overlook painful circumstances, and continue to see God as perfectly good.

Stop an imagine: How would seeing God as all good change how you see yourself, your self-image?

What It Means To Advance God’s Kingdom

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Before Jesus died and rose again, everyone, including Jesus’s disciples, was confused about Jesus’s purpose. Was Jesus on earth to start a military campaign? That would be easier that dying on a cross but not a final solution to the problem of sin. No, the kingdom Jesus talked about is a spiritual kingdom.

Your desire for God’s kingdom is important. “Thy kingdom come; they will be done.”

Jesus first waged war in the spiritual realm. He disarmed sin once and for all. Jesus advanced God’s kingdom and he left us a recipe for how to continue in His absence. Permit me to paraphrase the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9–13):

  1. Father God is perfect.
  2. He wants to advance His kingdom on earth.
  3. He meets all our needs when we can humbly receive them.
  4. He meets our physical, emotional, and kingdom desires.

To advance God’s kingdom means to expand the reign of God like yeast spreads through dough and causes it to rise (Matthew 13:33, parable explanation). Yeast enters the dough and slowly transforms it. When righteousness, peace, and joy increase, the kingdom of God is advancing (Romans 14:17). The most direct and practical way to advance God’s kingdom is to fulfill the great commission. The great commission is as simple as you knowing God and helping others to know Him, too.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

—Matthew 28:19–20a

Just remember: to make a disciple, you first have to be a growing disciple. Being a disciple means you have experience being aware of your needs and receiving from God and others. You accept the help of God’s Holy Spirit who is present in the life of every believer.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

—John 14:16–17

How potent is your desire to see God’s kingdom come? Are you ready to Play the Long Game to advance God’s kingdom?

Why Playing The Long Game Matters

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In chess, the pawn is the weakest piece. However, if you stop your understanding of the pawn there, you’ll miss that the pawn also has the most potential of all the pieces. If it reaches the other side of the board, it becomes more powerful.

Life isn’t a game. I’m not suggesting you play games with your life. Playing the long game means investing the effort to achieve maximum results. Most of the time this requires sacrificing short-term rewards.

Jesus gave up His earthly life to secure an everlasting victory over death. His life was short but long on results. He achieved such outstanding results because He followed the Father’s plan. He fulfilled His destiny.

You, too, have a clearly defined destiny. Have you invested the time to learn what it is? You can’t play the long game without it. You can expect to spend your whole life in preparation for the next moment of your life. God wants you to know your identity and walk in good works. The more you know your identity, the more you know your destiny.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

—Ephesians 2:10

The long-game player finds the optimal balance between immediate satisfaction and maximum impact. Jesus spent time healing people who eventually died. At first glance, this seems like a waste of time. He did it anyway because He cares. He showed us the Father’s heart. But Jesus never allowed any short-term gain to delay, diminish, or deter Him from God’s long-term plans.

God made you for a specific purpose. Who you are is enough to fulfill your purpose. You have all you need to reach your potential. But you must seek and discover to reach your potential.  As you become more, you’ll be able to accomplish more. But, if you don’t invest in growth, you delay reaching your potential.

You can’t play the long game without faith. God always sees the end — the infinite future. Because you can’t see that far, you must trust His vision. You can, however, see far enough to take the next step.

Should You Follow or Ignore Your Feelings?

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When should you trust your feelings? When should you not?

I don’t recommend you ever ignore your feelings. They are there for a reason.

But it’s up to you to figure out what they mean and what to do about them.

If your feelings are negative, that doesn’t mean you agree with them and follow them. Think of your feelings like your ability to taste or smell. You don’t continue eating if the food tastes bad. But you should be glad you can taste that the food is bad, so you can stop eating.

Just because you feel like you want to steal something, doesn’t mean you should. But the urge to steal something should help you learn something about what you need emotionally. Perhaps you need to ask for what you need more often?

Always consider how there could be a legitimate way to satisfy your feelings. You might feel hungry for junk food, but how about something healthy instead?

Or, you might have a goal to lose weight down to a healthy weight. Without a good option, sometimes the healthiest thing to do is to not eat anything. You’ll feel hungry going unsatisfied, but you have a higher purpose in mind: feeling fit and enjoying being in shape.

You might feel angry like you want to get revenge. If you follow through with revenge, you’ll likely only create more problems for you and harm others. But feeling angry tells you that some changes are needed. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Emotions are an excellent catalyst for learning life lessons. Sometimes this means learning the truth, but at other times this means unlearning what is false.

Emotions are indicators which require interpretation. They aren’t a green light to act inappropriately. If you continue to act spontaneously on your feelings, then at some point you’ll find yourself someplace you’d rather not be. Oh, if we might only be able to taste the regret before we act.

When you have to make a decision that requires discernment (a decision that isn’t obviously right or wrong), they can act more like faith, intuition, or your gut instinct. Thank you, God for this gift of discernment. Help us all to grow in wisdom by your Spirit.

 

How do I Realize My Identity?

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When life is a struggle, sometimes we wrestle with ourselves, sometimes with our circumstances, and sometimes we wrestle with God.

I wonder what challenge your facing that is causing you to want to realize your identity. Whatever the challenge is, I suggest you face it head-on. As you wrestle with it, you’ll learn more about who you are. Jacob wrestled with God and God ended up changing his name.

 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.

—Genesis 32:24-29

To understand your identity, you should also consider your worldview. What is your relationship to everything else besides you? Look at where you fit in comparison to everything else.

Considering your likes and dislikes is good. Considering what others see is also good. But there’s more. What brings deep satisfaction and meaning to you?

To realize your identity, enter into the following cycle:

  1. Define yourself as best as you can. Who are you?
  2. Live life. Experiment. Try something new.
  3. Define your worldview. Where are you?
  4. Define your purpose. Why are you here?
  5. Define your goals. What do you want to accomplish next?
  6. Focus on what is most meaningful to you for a while.
  7. Return to step 1 and repeat.

What is Identity?

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Imagine you’re in the worse sandstorm of all time. The wind uses the sand to scrub away at you. The intensity of the blast separates little pieces of you and the wind carries them into the distance.

If this were a real sandstorm, your physical body couldn’t withstand it. But I’m talking about a cleansing from who you aren’t. After such a thorough cleansing, what is left of you?

Identity is what you can’t ever lose. Whatever is left is the true you. What got carried away wasn’t ever really a part of the true you.

These four dictionary definitions (compiled from yourdictionary.com/identity and dictionary.com/browse/identity) capture the essence of identity. Identity is:

  1. “Who you are.” This definition encapsulates what I mean by identity.
  2. “The set of characteristics by which you are definitively recognizable.” This definition clarifies that we can use identity to distinguish you from others.
  3. “Your unique characteristics held by no other person.” This definition clarifies that having an identity means you have something that no one else will ever have.
  4. “What remains the same, constant, persisting over time, under varying circumstances.” This definition provides the insight that identity must be permanently yours, or else it really isn’t part of you.

Take a moment and think about what can be taken from you or what you can lose. What is left?

I’m not talking about the things God has promised are yours. If you’re a Christian, you have eternal life and eternal relationship with God and others. Your identity is who you are. The “who that is you” will always be forever and ever. Remember this when you feel like life is ripping you apart limb by limb.

And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

—Zechariah 13:9

God is helping you become the purest and truest version of who you are.

Listen to the Refiner’s Fire worship song. Ask God to help you know and experience your true identity.