Christian Concepts

Bringing your Potential to Light

Matt Pavlik

Your Purpose Is Always Packed With Potential

Your Purpose Is Always Packed With Potential

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Reading time: 4 minutes

You are an individual with your own personality, interests, and abilities. You have an identity. Therefore, you automatically have a built-in purpose.

Your identity is inseparable from your purpose. If God intentionally created you as distinct from others, there must be a reason for your uniqueness. Why would God have made you if He didn’t want someone just like you?

Purpose Implies Many Other Profound Truths

While you can’t expect to discover your purpose overnight, you can be sure you have one at all times. If you always have a purpose, here is what also must be true at all times:

Your life is intentional.

God made you with intention. You are who you are because of His purpose. There are no coincidences. You aren’t like a random fish in a vast ocean that contains an uncountable number of fish. You aren’t an interchangeable part—one of many other identical fish. God knows you by your name.

What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31 NLT

He knows you so completely that He placed you with your character, skills, and abilities in the time and place for you to live (Act 17:26).

You are a work of art.

You are a planned, deliberate, creative design. You’re not an accident. Your personality isn’t a mistake. You’re not lame or inferior. You’re not a reject. You’re not God’s failed experiment.

While we all need to admit that we have flaws, we have a real need to see ourselves apart from our flaws. One day (in the next life) you will no longer have these flaws. So they can’t be so significant today. The wrong you do today isn’t really a part of who you are.

Flaws can also be misrepresented. What might seem like a weakness–a personal defect–could actually be a misplaced strength. A fish is weak on dry land but strong in the water.

Just existing is meaningful.

What you feel, think, and do is significant. Even when seems like you are accomplishing nothing, you’re doing something. No matter how you feel about your deeds—whether they feel significant or not, in God’s eyes, they are important. To be alive means you are productive. God wired you to thrive by pursuing a relationship with Him.

You have significant work to do.

The more you understand life, the more you will know what to do. Not only can you make an important contribution in this life, but you were intentionally designed to do so.

You have a destiny to fulfill.

You will not only make a contribution, but you will be completing the work God planned for you when He made you.

For 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 2:10 NLT

You are wanted and needed.

All of this means that you, in all of your uniqueness, are needed. Without your participation, the outcome of any given relationship or task will play out in a different way than if you were involved. This doesn’t mean that God’s plans are limited by your refusal to participate. God will fulfill His purposes. Nothing can prevent or delay His will. But He chose you to participate. You are a masterpiece; you are one-of-a-kind.

Purpose Will Be Elusive Until You Know Who You Are

Having and understanding your identity provides numerous benefits. Can you imagine how knowing you have a purpose at all times helps you live each day? Now then, are you able to wake up excited about your day?

What’s your purpose? If knowing your purpose or even believing you have one is still difficult, then you first need to focus on learning who you are.

When you know your identity, you will know your purpose. When you are unsure of your purpose, then it is a signal to grow by digging deeper into understanding your identity. Because of your God-given identity, you have a purpose, and knowing this purpose allows you to claim your destiny.

Read more about purpose.
Image by René Schaubhut from Pixabay
Updated on August 22, 2022

Why There Are So Many Perspectives

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Reading time: 1 minutes

If ten people see a car accident, all ten of them will have a different eye-witness report.

If five people interpret a Bible verse, all five of them will have a different opinion of its meaning.

A husband and a wife will have very different ways to recall the same event.

Why are there so many different perspectives?

Most of the time people interpret life based on their investment. By investment, I mean their convictions—their worldview. A person who has been bitten by a dog will make an investment to avoid dogs. Or maybe they will focus on finding a cure for angry dogs. A parent whose child experiences a serious injury because of a malfunctioning car seat will all of a sudden become interested in how car seats need improving. Or perhaps in an extreme case, they will refuse to let their child ride in a car.

One way to find out what someone really believes is to witness them in a heated argument. The more agitated a person becomes, the more likely they will bypass their filter and speak their raw truth. Their words may or may not be accurate, but how the person feels will come across much clearer.

If (or maybe I should say when) you’re struggling to communicate with another person, the first step should be to gain understanding. Why do they not want a dog? Why do they insist on paying extra for premium safety features? When you understand a person’s investment, you’re well on your way to negotiating a solution to your heated argument.

The Kingdom of God Is Like

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God’s kingdom is alive wherever Jesus Christ reigns. The best place for God to reign is in our hearts. However, remembering the spiritual reality behind the physical reality is challenging.

Jesus emphasized the kingdom frequently during His ministry. He compared the kingdom of heaven to several objects:

  • A farmer who plants seeds in various types of soil (Matthew 13:24).
  • A treasure worth selling everything for (Matthew 13:44).
  • A rare pearl worth selling everything for (Matthew 13:45-46).
  • A large fishing net capable of catching all kinds of fish (Matthew 13:47).
  • Yeast that can spread completely through dough (Luke 13:20-21).
  • A mustard seed which is small but has the potential to sustain many (Luke 13:18-19).

What do you get when you put all these together? Something small and powerful. Deceptively small and unbelievably powerful. But also large in its scope. Resilient and unstoppable. Silent and active.

When Jesus brought up these analogies for the kingdom, He went on to explain that the way to reach the kingdom is hard to find (Luke 13:24). This fits with looking for buried treasure. Nothing in all of creation is more worthwhile and meaningful than God’s kingdom.

Jesus also talked about the exclusivity of the kingdom (Matthew 13:11). Only certain people can see the kingdom and grasp its significance.

The ability to see God’s kingdom is a treasure in itself. God promises that He will give us an abundance of knowledge and understand beyond simply recognizing the kingdom (Matthew 13:12). God wants you to know the secrets of heaven.

Can you see and understand His secrets? Does the kingdom feel alive to you? Ask God to show you the kingdom along with an abundance of understanding. Tell God you want Him to reign in your heart.

God's Love Keeps Believers Safe

God’s Love Keeps Believers Safe

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Reading time: 4 minutes

Sin can’t separate Christians from God’s love. As a Christian, your relationship with God protects you from the condemnation of sin (Romans 8:1, 37-39).

For you bless the godly, O LORD; you surround them with your shield of love.

Psalm 5:12 NLT

What is your position in relation to God? Are you standing in front of Him arguing your point or are you standing behind Him, allowing Him to represent you in all matters? The first position stands in conflict with God while the second stands in agreement.

God’s Love Helps Interpret the Bible

The Bible contains good news about God’s love for believers. The experiences and personal characteristics you bring to a Bible passage can influence how you interpret it. Two people can read the same Bible verse and draw two different conclusions. This is why we also need the Holy Spirit to help us know the truth.

When you read about David moving the Ark of God, how do you relate to the story?

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

2 Samuel 6:1-7 ESV

If you read this passage believing your salvation is not secure, you could feel anger, condemnation, fear, and anxiety. You could wonder if you’ve done something wrong (or you’re about to) and God is going to punish you severely, or worse that you’ve lost your salvation.

However, if you read it as a Christian who is secure in their salvation, you’ll be able to recognize that you have God’s favor as His child. You won’t worry about God’s response because you’ll know that His response is the best for you. God disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 12:6) so I’m not suggesting that God is easy on sin. I am suggesting that God is working for your good and you don’t need to live in fear. God’s love drives away fear (1 John 4:18).

What Uzzah a Christian? If he wasn’t, you don’t have to worry if you are a Christian. If he was, then he will still be with God in heaven. For whatever reason, God’s disciple of Uzzah’s sin meant physical death. Sin does not determine whether a person goes to heaven or hell. Only a person’s standing with Jesus can do that.

God’s Love Creates a Privileged Relationship

When you become a child of God, you have a privileged relationship. You shouldn’t read the Bible as if you’re just like every character in the Bible. If you’re a Christian and you read it as if you’re Uzzah or King Saul instead of David or the apostle Paul, you’re going to feel fear instead of peace. David sinned greatly and God still considered him a man after His heart. God disciplined him, but he also blessed him. How can this be? The Holy Spirit of God was with David in ways that He wasn’t with Saul.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8: 1-2 ESV

Don’t let anything separate you from God’s love. Make sure you interpret Bible passages based on your new identity and standing, as a totally accepted person because you’re “in Christ Jesus.”

Learn How to Protect Your Relationship With God
Learn more about Uzzah
Last edited 2023/07/23

Identity and The Gospel

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The Gospel is the foundation of Christian identity.  Without the Gospel, you couldn’t become born spiritually, so you’d never have access to your Christian identity.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he stressed repeatedly that the Gospel can’t be altered in any way. As soon as you add or remove something, you no longer have a Gospel. He goes on to say that the primary reason anyone would want to alter the Gospel would be to please another human.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

—Galatians 1:10

You might water down the Gospel so that more people qualify. The Gospel is already free. Or, almost free. You do have to want to spend eternity with God on His terms. The Gospel needs to be responded to for it to be effective. If we try to make it more inclusive, we steal away its power.

You might try to tighten up the Gospel so that fewer people qualify. But again, the Gospel isn’t some hard-to-get-into exclusive club. You can’t make a profit from the Gospel but charging someone. It’s already free, making someone jump through more hoops to qualify also robs the Gospel of its power.

The more we try to please anyone but God, the more we stray from fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. God has a purpose for us. Every day has a purpose. God knows the day you will wake up so you can intentionally seek your purpose. He strategically hides everyone’s purpose in their identity. If you know your identity, you know your purpose.

If you want some assistance in discovering who God made you to be, get my workbook, Confident Identity.

Use Your Potential or You Might Lose It

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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?