Being Me
Romans 12:6-8 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
I spent much of my life trying to be someone that I was never meant to be. I remember when I started my life as an information technology consultant, I used to try and be all things to my clients. I used to pretend that I could meet all their needs, that I knew everything. Can you imagine anything more ridiculous than that? I must have looked so stupid and arrogant all at the same time.
But you see, given the high hourly rates that I was charging them, I thought, surely I have to be able to meet all their needs. Looking back on it now with a few more years of experience – I realise how silly that was. And in fact how stressful it was trying to be someone I wasn’t capable of being.
Have you heard this rubbish that the world promises? You can be whoever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do. Just work hard at it and you’ll make it. Really?! Come on.
There are some things that you’re good at, and other things that you aren’t good at. There are some things you really enjoy doing and yet there are others that you hate doing. And there is an incredibly strong correlation between those two: we love doing the things we’re good at and we hate doing the things we’re not naturally good at.
Yet the world is full of people trying to be something or someone that they were never made to be. And from painful experience, let me tell you … it’s not a whole lot of fun falling flat on your face … again and again and again. Even I’ve figured that out!
Here’s the truth of the matter:
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-8)
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. And what this is saying, is that if your gift is prophecy, then for Pete’s sake, go and prophesy according to your faith. If it’s generosity, then go and be generous. If your gift is the gift of compassion then go and be compassionate with a cheerful attitude in your heart. And so on.
Go and be who God made you to be. Go and do what God made you to do and when we operate in our “sweet spot” there’s a joy, there’s a right feeling about it, there’s a satisfaction to it that defies words.
That’s because that’s how it’s meant to be. Please, go and be who God made you to be.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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