You Are A Masterpiece

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

I am currently reading Warrior: Equipping Men for Spiritual Victory by Lance Ingram. Earlier this week I was reading Chapter 4, Confronting The Heart: Winning the spiritual war requires keeping our hearts and habits pure. The section I was reading is titled, Insecurity – Be confident in God’s unique design and flee comparison. I want to start off by sharing some things I underlined and then I will wrap this up by sharing a few thoughts.

“Remember – Satan’s greatest tactic is deception, and he’ll whisper lies to us to get us down in the dumps, temporarily paralyzing us and preventing us from operating in the role God has placed us.”

“True significance comes from knowing that we were uniquely woven together by the Master Tailor, and that His perfect plan involves us doing a job that no one else can do, in a way that no one else can do it. God made me like me for a job no one else can do like me.”

“And the areas where I’m not in line with the world’s prototype were calculated choices by the Creator to keep me from doing something other than my job! How liberating that even what the world calls weakness was a premeditated decision by God to keep us from doing something He didn’t intend for us to do!”

“Theodore Roosevelt said it best: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” And when we compare ourselves to others, we not only lose our joy, but we insult our Creator.”

“The truth is when we don’t feel good enough, our perspective isn’t Biblical enough!”

I want to briefly comment on a few of these excerpts.

The first is really a link between the first and the last excerpt; realize that Satan’s greatest tactic is deception. Please remember Friends, Satan started as an Angel in Heaven however he was cast out because he wanted the glory for himself (Isaiah 14: 12 – 17). He knows the scriptures very, very well. I have found that when Satan wants to get me off track, he doesn’t tell me some grand lie that I will easily detect. No, he speaks with bits of truth, but incomplete truth. He often will try to word-smith what God has said or try to make us doubt the character of God. I challenge you, Friends; when a thought of inadequacy or a forecast of doom floods your mind, please simply measure it against what the scriptures actually say. If what you are thinking lines up with what the word of God says, then be confident in knowing that God is leading you. If, however, your thinking does not line up with the word of God, recognize the deception of Satan and immediately dismiss it. The battle is absolutely real however the Bible promises that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us (James 4:7).

“God made me for a job that no else can do like me.” Please let those words, and the truth that prompted them, wash over you. You are not a mistake. The Bible actually says that you are a masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). All of you that makes you who you are – your passion, your intelligence, your abilities…. all of you! – are perfect for the work that God has for you to do! Nobody can be you, but you and you can’t replace anyone else, either. Sure, we could step into one another’s roles, perhaps even fulfill them adequately. But in terms of reaching our true potential and fulfilling the purpose for which we were created…that can only happen by you and I being the best version of who God created us to become.

This statement was profound to me; “How liberating that even what the world calls weakness was a premeditated decision by God to keep us from doing something He didn’t intend for us to do!” That really spoke to my heart. Have you ever looked at your shortcomings or failures that way? I hadn’t. Like many college football players, I dreamed of playing in the NFL. After my senior year I had a scout come and see me. He had watched me play a couple of times throughout the season. He stated that he really liked me, he thought that perhaps I could play in the NFL, but the only question was my speed. He told me, “If you can run this 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds or less, we will give you an opportunity. If you can’t, we won’t.” I didn’t run it that fast and my dream of playing in the NFL died that day. For years I thought of that event as a failure – not one that I have begrudged as I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be today, doing exactly what God placed me on this earth to do. At the same time, I never looked at it like my lack of speed was an intentional decision by God to keep me from doing something that He did not design me to do. And in this very moment, I understand the heart behind the Garth Brooks song, “Unanswered Prayers.”

And finally, we are at comparison. Lance says it very well when he said, “And when we compare ourselves to others, we not only lose our joy, but we insult our Creator.” My personal favorite about comparison comes from Pastor Craig Groeschel. He said, “Comparison will make you feel inferior or superior; neither honors God.” I am not here to run your race and you are not here to run mine. Each one of us is created and called by God to run our race. Mine is not about you and yours is not about mine. There is no comparison, Friend. We are simply called to run our race and run it to win (1 Corinthians 9; 24 – 26)!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev