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Potential

by Jerry Ousley  
1/03/2009 / Christian Living

You've heard the old expression, "That person has a lot of potential." I've known people who had a lot of potential. When I was in the US Army I knew a lady who had a lot of potential. She outranked me by one rank; I was a spec 4 (equal to a corporal) and she was a spec 5 (equal to the first level of sergeant). She was sharp. She had the goods. She could do whatever she put her mind to do.

She gave a wonderful first impression. Her uniform was spotless and wrinkle free. Her shoes were so highly polished that they were like black mirrors. Upon first meeting her she greeted people with elegance and etiquette. As first impressions go she was top notch.

However, after you got to know her you found out that she was all show. She was good at telling others how a job should be done but she would never lift a finger to do it herself. If she had to do manual labor her temper would flair and the real person would come out. She had a lot of potential but potential doesn't go very far if one isn't willing to carry it through.

I knew another lady who had a lot of potential. Now don't get me wrong; it is entirely coincidental that I've decided to talk about two women. I don't have anything against women. This lady also had the goods. She had gone to college graduating with honors in computer science. She knew her stuff. She was good at what she knew. I say it that way because that's about the extent of her ability. She could do the work and she knew the right thing to do, she just wouldn't show up for work and consequently she did nothing.

Potential is only a good thing when it is realized. Potential means that we have the ability to do a job but if we don't actually do the job our potential isn't worth much. In order for potential to be realized something called good old elbow grease has to be thrown in as an important part of the recipe.

This also applies to our relationship with God. Inside of every human being on the face of this planet is the potential to be a good servant of Jesus Christ. I fully believe in salvation by grace. There is absolutely no way we can earn our way into Heaven. But God does have a mission in mind for each of us. While we were still in our mother's womb God had a path for our lives. But God won't make us do it. He will not force us down the path He has chosen for us. He will make the way and clear the path but we've got to choose to walk down it.

First of all it takes preparation. God has given us the abilities to fulfill our mission. I believe that deep inside of us He has also given us the desire. But you very seldom see a first time natural. While it has rarely happened, most of us need to get ready for whatever our life-mission is. We need to become knowledgeable about what we are going to do. We need to be sure we are physically prepared to carry it out. We've got some getting ready to do.

Secondly it takes perspiration. 1 Corinthians 15:58 tells us that we can know that our labor for the Lord is not in vain. But we've got to do the work. We can't spend our time simply talking about it. We've got to put the sweat into it. We've got to do the labor.

Finally we've got to persevere. The job isn't always going to be easy. But know that our trouble produces perseverance. Paul, in 2 Timothy 2:5 tells us, "And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." In other words, if an athlete expects to win the prize he's got to do it by the rules. He's got to persevere.

Potential is good. We need potential. But we've got to be in God's will and we've got to do what needs to be done to realize our own potential.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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