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Archives for September 2018

Use Your Potential or You Might Lose It

September 29, 2018 by Matt Pavlik 2 Comments

Reading time: 3 minutes

One of Aesop’s Fables, The Miser and His Gold, demonstrates that without God, the fear of not having enough is strong.

Once upon a time there was a Miser who buried his gold near a tree in his garden; but every week he used to go and dig it up and gloat over his gains. A robber, who had noticed this, went and dug up the gold and left town with it. When the Miser next came to gloat over his treasures, he found nothing but the empty hole. He tore his hair and raised such an outcry that all the neighbors came around him, and he told them how he used to come and visit his gold.

“Did you ever take any of it out?” asked one of them.

“No,” said he, “I only came to look at it.”

“Then come again and look at the hole,” said a neighbor; “it will do you just as much good.”

Wealth unused might as well not exist.

The Miser lives a stagnant, distracted life and remains empty despite having a treasure. He is mesmerized by his treasure but he only has the illusion of fullness. He has the wrong focus: external and worldly. He clings to the vain and empty. He feels anxious because he uses creation the wrong way.

Using the visible to attempt to fill the spiritual doesn’t work.

The Miser expects security from wealth when God didn’t make money for this purpose (1 Timothy 6:10). Using something the wrong way is expecting more from it that it is capable of delivering. If you put too much strain on a shovel, it will break. Or, if you put too much weight in an elevator, the cable snaps. If you expect too much from a friend, you might lose your friend.

Another story, the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30), demonstrates that without a Confident Identity you can’t please God. In the parable, the master gives his servants talents (money) according to their ability. Two of the servants multiply their God-given resources. The master showers them with equal praise, independent of their ability. But, the master condemns the lazy servant who doesn’t attempt to use his ability. He lacks initiative because he focuses on his fear of failure. He is unable to perform because he doesn’t feel secure in his identity.

Why doesn’t the servant feel secure enough to invest? He probably didn’t take the time to pursue learning his identity with the help of others’ encouragement. The lesson for the servant might be potential that you never use might as well not exist. Those who completely avoid God out of fear demonstrate they don’t really know Him. God wants you to trust and invest. God wants you to activate what He’s given you. Your identity won’t do you any good unless you discover it and use it wisely.

Both the Miser and the lazy servant believe the wrong information about God and their own sense of self. Both are fear based and seek a false security. The Miser relies on a treasure instead of God. The servant would rather not try at all than to try and fail, even though to not try is the surest way to fail. Neither is willing to risk failure in order to live up to their potential. Both seek self-preservation apart from God.

As with many stories Jesus told in the Bible, the interpretation depends on your standing before God. When you’re in good standing already (meaning you’re a believer) the stories are meant to encourage and reassure. God wants to shower praise on you for your sincere efforts. For those who hate God and don’t know Him, the messages are extreme. They’re meant as a warning to encourage drastic action to put you in good standing.

Use it or you might lose it. Think of a gift or blessing God has given you. How can you use it today?

Filed Under: Boundaries, Identity Tagged With: potential, purpose

Satan is the Best Salesman

September 22, 2018 by Matt Pavlik Leave a Comment

Reading time: 2 minutes

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?

Filed Under: Identity, Spiritual Formation Tagged With: God's goodness

Advance God's kingdom like yeast through dough.

Grow Your Desire To Advance God’s Kingdom

September 15, 2018 by Matt Pavlik 8 Comments

Reading time: 4 minutes

Before we Christians can hope to advance God’s kingdom, we must first be able to see God’s kingdom. The kingdom Jesus talked about is spiritual. To see it you need spiritual eyes. After you see it, you can enter it; after you become part of it, you can help advance it.

Nicodemus sought to understand God’s kingdom:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

John 3:1-2 ESV

Jesus revealed to Nicodemus the secret to understanding:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:3-6 ESV

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.

Disarm Sin To Advance God’s Kingdom

Before Jesus died and rose again everyone was confused about Jesus’s purpose. Even Jesus’s disciples didn’t get it. Was Jesus on earth to start a military campaign? That would be easier than dying on a cross but not a final solution to the problem of sin.

Jesus waged war in the spiritual realm. He disarmed sin once and for all. He did the heavy lifting, so all you need to do is be willing to join God’s fight against sin.

Tap Into God’s Power To Advance God’s Kingdom

Keep in mind that 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

Bear Fruit To Advance God’s Kingdom

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. You and I, as Christians, are the yeast.

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

The Secret Ingredient Needed To Advance God’s Kingdom

Your desire for God’s kingdom is important. “Thy kingdom come; they will be done.” How potent is your desire to see God’s kingdom come?

If you want to advance God’s kingdom, you need to think long-term. One common phrase for this is “playing the long game.” To do this, you accept short-term setbacks for bigger gains later. That’s what Jesus did with His death and resurrection, right? Easier said than done, I know.

It’s your life. What are you going to do with it? I’m thinking now of the How To Train Your Dragon moment when Astrid says, “What are you going to do?” and Hiccup responds, “Probably something stupid.” But here’s the difference: in God’s kingdom there is no stupid.

If that still sounds like too much stupid, then think of it as a wise investment. Put your talent to good use.

Are you ready to Play the Long Game to advance God’s kingdom? Read To Identity and Beyond: Play the Long Game, Advance God’s Kingdom, Enjoy Abundant Life.

Filed Under: Spiritual Formation, God's Kingdom

Reach Your Potential By Playing The Long Game

Reach Your Potential By Playing The Long Game

September 8, 2018 by Matt Pavlik 1 Comment

Reading time: 3 minutes

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 because you can upgrade it to any piece you want.

God Wants You To Reach Your Potential

You might think you’re only a pawn, but God sees your full potential. When you are born again, you are upgraded to a new creation that permanently holds God’s Holy Spirit.

Even then, God has more in store for you.

Life isn’t a game. I’m not suggesting you play games with your life. But life is all about growth. Playing the long game means investing the effort to achieve maximum results. There isn’t a more fulfilling way to live even though most of the time this requires sacrificing short-term rewards.

Sacrifice Immediate Rewards To Reach Your Potential

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 as a created masterpiece 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

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.

To accomplish this, you have to be sure you don’t become distracted away from God’s higher plans. As you become more, you’ll be able to accomplish more. But, if you don’t invest in growth, you delay reaching your potential. What are some examples of distraction traps?

  • Spending on material gain when you could be investing in spreading God’s kingdom.
  • Elevating entertainment above the hard work of spiritual and emotional growth.
  • Living an imbalanced life by working your job most of the time.

Care For Others To Reach Your Potential

The long-game player focuses on whatever it takes to cross the finish line. Sometimes this means prioritizing the immediate to achieve 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.

Whatever you do while motivated by God’s love is never a waste of time. Focusing on the end-results shouldn’t prevent you from doing what is right in the moment. You just want to make sure that what you are about to do doesn’t sabotage your ability to finish the race.

Jesus never allowed any short-term gain to delay, diminish, or deter Him from God’s long-term plans. God’s long-term plans are non-negotiable, but He is flexible with immediate events. After all, it’s taking each step that moves you closer to the finish.

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.

More About Potential and Some More
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Filed Under: Boundaries, Identity Tagged With: purpose

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