Life Hack #5 - Get Busy

Life Hack #5:

Skill is the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, and aptitude, to do something well - even to the point of excelling at whatever it is you are called to do. There is a sense of confidence as the tasks are performed - ability revealed in complete dexterity to perform the functions required. Skill might be a learned thing - but it could be an innate aptitude to "just do it" - their aptitude revealing their ability consistently. You've heard it said, "maybe they are born with it", but some have to work quite hard to develop the same level of skill that the individual with "innate aptitude" just seems to slip right into. The skilled worker is in high demand - because they can be counted on to perform at a consistent level of "output". As scripture puts it, "they will serve before kings" - because the best of talent rises to the top, doesn't it?

Observe people who are good at their work—skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don’t take a backseat to anyone. (Proverbs 22:29)

We need to take notice of those who possess "skill" for the work they are called to perform - for we can learn much from them if we will just begin to see their 'talent' through eyes willing to learn from what we observe. Did you know that the original meaning of "skilled" was actually one who exhibited understanding or discernment? When we are observing someone who has "understanding" of a task at hand, we are able to see how they process the "pieces" of the task and handle them with such ease. In learning from their "understanding" of the task - the things they discern about the phases of that task - we can learn to undertake similar tasks, as well.

There is an opportunity to serve afforded to each of us, but we need to develop our understanding and discernment of the tasks ahead of us. As we serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we want to keep in mind his overriding authority in our lives. We don't serve just because we "have" to, but because it is an honor to use our skill for his glory. The "reason" for our service is not to bring glory to ourselves, but to give all glory to the one who gives us the ability to perform these tasks in the first place. Where we choose to serve makes a huge difference. It is a tremendous thing to be in a position to use what God has given you to the fullest ability each and every day. 

When I come across an individual who says they have "no skill" or "aptitude" - maybe they call it not having any "talent" - I know this is not possible because each of us is created with an aptitude of some sort, we often just haven't tapped into it yet! We need to ask God to reveal to us what it is we have a "bent" toward - this is often the beginning of the revelation of what our "skill set" might just be. If we want to serve and serve well, we need to know what "skills" we can best bring to the table, don't we? God's word reminds us that we "have not because we ask not". We lack wisdom of our aptitude because we don't ask him to reveal it to us. When we finally ask, he is faithful to reveal. Just sayin!

You can use this?

I think it was Norman Vincent Peale who reminded us it is always too soon to quit. There are a lot of things we chase after in life, sometimes quitting just short of ever achieving whatever it is we are chasing after. We chase after a lot of things in life, but I have come to the conclusion not all of them are really worth chasing. Sometimes we chase stuff which brings us grief and disappointment - not exactly the best outcome, huh? This chasing is a part of a much deeper issue - we lack satisfaction or contentment, so we 'chase' and 'chase' and 'chase'. Contentment is a state of being "at ease" in our mind, soul, and spirit. We don't need activity because we are already at rest. Sometimes ceasing is the best remedy to chasing! Satisfaction really is that deeper sense of being grateful - fulfilled in what we have and who we are.

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. (I Corinthians 14:1)

Today we will look at the importance of pursuing the right stuff - in turn, that pursuit will bring us into a place of contentment like nothing else in this lifetime ever can. It is in the giving of ourselves to the gifts God gives us that we find our greatest place of contentment (fulfillment). Before you tell me you don't have any "gifts" or "talents", let me assure you - you have talents and gifts way beyond your imagining! Too many times, we limit ourselves by the belief we don't possess the "right stuff" to do what it is God is asking us to do. We often don't know the "talent" God may need in a particular moment or circumstance - but he does. If he places us smack dab in the middle of the need - we must have something he desires to be used in serving to meet the need! In reviewing our "spiritual gifts" we often discount the very "practical gifts" we have been given, such as our talent to balance a set of accounting books, the ability to proof a term paper, the skill to teach tough subjects, or the awesome ability to make people feel very welcomed in a group.

We somehow think the "spiritual gifts" God is looking for are all these "mystical" gifts like the "word of knowledge" or the "prophesying" of a new revelation to the church. As important as these gifts are, the most important gift we have to offer Christ is ourselves - complete with every "natural talent" we have. In turn, God takes what we consider "natural" and turns these into something he considers "super-natural". When we are in service with the talents we possess, he is honored! We are to "go after" a life of love as if our "lives depended on it". We are left with no doubt here - our life depends upon our pursuit of all God has for us. When we are "going after" something, there is a tenacity (a stick-to-it kind of attitude). We don't want to give up without the reward of what we are pursuing. A life of service may not seem like much of a 'pursuit', but the results are telling.

I wonder just how much we'd be blessed in blessing others with the simple talents we possess? You may be excellent readers - have you ever considered reading to the blind or elderly with failing vision? I know my mother enjoyed it when my sister sat lazily by on the sofa, book in hand, and shared the stories from the Reader's Digest with her. You may be able to herd cats - maybe your toddler's church class could use your talent! You might be able to make a mean cup of coffee - perhaps the ladies need a safe-place for a mom's group. You may be able to teach - there are hundreds of parents having to work through hybrid school right now with no idea how to do this 'new math'. Whatever you possess - give it! You might just be surprised at what God can do with the "simplest" of talents! 

God really wants us to focus on giving what it is we have - not bemoaning the fact we don't have a "particular gift" to give - like the one someone else is giving already. In other words, he doesn't want us to focus so much on what we "don't" have as much as focus on what it is we "do" have. In the giving of ourselves to what it is we recognize as a "talent", "trained area", or "natural bent" we might have, God can bring forth the "spiritual" blessing of our "gift" as it touches the lives of those around us. Don't make too much of the word "gift" - instead, allow God to use you as the need "fits" your temperament and training. Pick up the hammer, drive a few nails, and see what he allows to be built! You might just be surprised to find in the nail hammering, lives are touched! Just sayin!

Everyone's got talent

Each of us is given a measure of talent - scripture refers to it as NEEDED talent. It has a purpose - even if it is a small one. It may not be the 'biggest' or 'brightest' talent of all around you, but it is uniquely yours and you are designed to use it. Look at the widow with the one tiny mite (not even a penny). She gave it all - though it was nothing compared to the "sizable" financial offering of the wealthier or more well known individuals who came to the temple that day, it was EVERYTHING to her. Faithful hands and a yielded heart is all God ever wants. I have heard many a person hopelessly announce, "I don't have anything to contribute." The problem is they are comparing their 'talent' to another's talent and if they don't think it measures up quite as well, they discount their talent. We each possess a NEEDED talent - uniquely our own - specifically to be used by us in the blessing of those around us - in small ways or large, it doesn't really matter - we just need to use it!

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, "He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out." This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God. (2 Corinthians 9:8-11)

How does faith begin to arise from within us - to grow, multiply, and become a blessing for others? Certainly, it comes as we begin to yield our lives to God in total surrender - no longer choosing to live by our own stubborn choices. As we "center" our thoughts on him, we begin to feel the "settling" influence of his Spirit deep within our lives. This very "settling" of our emotions (fears) begins to allow us to "rest" in him - to finally be at peace within. This "rest" becomes the place out of which we begin to "give" out of what he has given to us. At first, the "giving out" from what God has given us may seem like it is small, and even insignificant, but it is a SIZABLE thing in God's eyes! The more we give, the more we seem to see that NEEDED talent become a blessing of SIZABLE proportion!

Don't every forget - God can pour on the blessings - and he does it in ways so astonishing we may not fully be able to comprehend it! I have learned God seldom meets my need in the exact manner I imagined he would. In fact, he often has some other awesome way of meeting it that I would never have considered! One thing I know for certain - God is not limited by our imagination! His presence in our lives makes all things different. His very presence is what gives us the ability to stand when we are weak, trust when all seems to be falling apart, give when it hurts, and reach out when retreating to a place of refuge would be much easier or more comfortable for us. It is God's unique way of blessing us - give and it shall be given is the principle being taught here. Truth be told, God knows no limitations - not like those of us who think there are limits to just about everything. I rarely get to the place of "throwing all caution to the wind", yet it is commonplace for God to do so in our lives, not once, but over and over again until we are head over heels in blessings! He delights in pouring into our lives - his presence, his peace, his love. Whatever the need - he is ready. 

What he gives, he desires to use as a blessing not only for us, but for those whose lives we will touch in turn. I honestly believe this is one small way he is able to show his limitless love and power in this world - through us! He uses his blessing in our lives to touch the lives of others (no matter how small it may seem to us, it is huge when we do it in obedience to him). We always have something we can give away. I frequently get the calls from the agencies who run the various thrift shops in town. They are seeking donations of used goods they might sell within their various stores. The concept is simple (and it is kind of biblical). It is in the giving of what we have that others are put to work in a productive manner. As the donation is made, the truck drivers have a mission (a purpose). The donation is sorted by others who needed productive work. The items are distributed to the various stores to be resold. In so doing, even this small gift of what we saw as no longer useful in our lives becomes a huge blessing to many, many others - including the one who will 're-purpose' that item in their lives. The one who purchases the item is only the recipient of it after it has been a blessing to many others along the way!

Throw caution to the wind, my friends! God wants both the things of our abundance AND of our need! He delights in seeing us give from our abundance, but he is overjoyed when he sees us giving from within our 'talent' that he has gifted in our lives! In so doing, we are blessing him - but we also see the many blessings of others being touched by what God is doing in our lives. In learning to give in such a way, we are learning to live "robust lives" in God's goodness and grace! You may not think you have a talent today, but look at where you flourish - what you enjoy so much - chances are that is the place God has placed your talent. It could be you are a baker, wonderful cook, or even a seamstress. That 'small' talent in the hand of God can be a blessing to others. Fideos for a recovering friend, chicken soup for the one with the sniffles, banana bread for the shut-in who loves a little something with her afternoon tea, and even the gentle hug you give - all are a 'talent' when used by God to touch the lives of another! Just sayin!

I only have a little ability

The Apostle Paul seemed like quite a well-educated, very capable guy when you looked at him from the outside - on the surface, we can appear just about anyway we like, but it is what is at the center of a man that really makes the man.  Paul took honest moments like this in the letter to the church at Ephesus to explain his own personal struggle with feeling "ill-prepared" for what God had called him to do.  He tells us what he recognizes as his calling on his life - to help people understand and respond to the message of salvation - something he felt very ill-prepared to do, but which he knew with a certainty was what he was to go about doing.  It was this message that he spent the remainder of his years attempting to get out to as many people as possible, establishing them in the truth that God had made a way for all people to have access to the atoning sacrifice of his dear Son, Jesus. Sometimes the thing we feel the least equipped to do is the very thing we should go about doing!

This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.  (Ephesians 3:7-8 MSG)

Paul's calling was illustrated in scripture as what I'd label "pretty doggone dramatic".  He was encountered along the Damascus road by a light so bright that he falls to the ground, stunned beyond words.  He had been going about the work of killing off and torturing men and women who professed belief in Jesus - because it was contrary to what he had learned from his teachers of the Law.  Then he was encountered by the very light he was attempting to extinguish - sometimes this is just the way it is with God's plan - it encounters us in exactly the opposite way we are pursuing.  The voice of God actually spoke to him from within the light - I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.  I'd probably think this was pretty clear proof that the one I thought was some guy just calling himself the Son of God was perhaps who he said he was - especially since he had been killed on the cross some time earlier!  He is told to go off into Damascus, where he had the opportunity to meet with a disciple named Ananias, while all the while he was left blinded by the brightness of the light he had been exposed to on the road that day.  He had traveling companions that day who saw the same light, but they did not hear the voice.  They were left with their sight unimpaired, while Paul lost his for a period of time.  God is truly amazing in how he works just what he needs to work in order to get at the heart of one who needs to hear his voice!

When Paul says that this gift came to him as a "sheer surprise", he is not kidding!  There was absolutely nothing within him that even wanted to explore the possibility that Jesus was the true Messiah.  He was content to go along in his condition of heart that had him out there persecuting and killing Christians.  But God had a different plan - an encounter of the "spiritual kind" because of which he'd never be the same again.  Our conversion to Christ may not have been as dramatic, as memorable, or come complete with audible voice from within a bright light - but our conversion was just as real, just as transforming, and just as much of a surprise as was Paul's.  When we least expected God to reach down into our lives with his grace and his forgiveness, he did.  Just that simple!  Along with that grace came his provision.  A provision for all we'd need to both walk out our own salvation day by day in the grace he provides, but also the provision to share the gospel message, making it plain to those who need to hear it just as badly as we needed it.

You may say that you are not called to be a "Paul" to the world, but that is okay because that is not your purpose in life.  You are called to be faithful to bring the message of hope to those you encounter in your walk of life - even though you aren't called to 'father new churches'. Paul says he was not equipped, although he was very well educated in 'spiritual things'. It was God that did the true equipping of Paul - the same God that equips us with all we need to be messengers of his grace to a lost world.  The very next time you feel "ill-equipped" for the work you are called to do - don't sweat it, but look up.  God is already at work equipping you in just the way he plans to use you!  We tend to focus on the natural abilities - as did Paul - but God focuses on the willingness of heart that allows him to pour in all that we need (words, abilities, talents).  In his hands, a yielded messenger is more valuable than gold. Don't focus on what you don't have - focus on what God can and will provide when your heart is yielded to his equipping. Don't remind God you don't have this or that ability - but simply act upon the ability you have and see how amazingly awesome that little ability can be when motivated by the hand of God! Just sayin!

Identity Theft

Have you ever been guilty of identity theft?  Now, don't all rush to admit it, but at one time or another in your life, I think you probably were!  You see, anytime you compare yourself to another and then evaluate whether you can "conform" to the image you see of the other is really a form of trying to commit identity theft!  If you actually pull it off, conforming to the image of another, you have done the deed.  Problem is . . . we often compare ourselves to a flawed image - making what we conform to only able to reproduce another flawed image!

God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”  God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.  He created them male and female.  (Genesis 1:26-28 MSG)

Anytime we try to be someone or something that another is called to be, we are engaging in this thing called identity theft.  For example, someone sings so melodically, getting accolades galore.  We want accolades, too, don't we.  So, we set out to get voice lessons, try out for the choir, and then one day we volunteer for the solo part.  How well did that work out for you?  If you are like the majority of others who pursue something for the wrong reason, you probably didn't do too well!  Why?  It was not your calling in life to be the soloist - you were made to be part of the choir!  Yet, you excel at something the soloist doesn't - your talent is unique in some manner.  You just have to discover what it is and then walk in it.

Most importantly, we have to remember we are created in God's image - first and foremost!  If we want to engage in "identity theft" we might just do well to "steal" the identity worth stealing!  What I think we have a hard time with is how we could be created in the image of God and still be so unique as human beings - each of us with different gifting and talent.  You see, we can only perceive God through our finite minds.  The many facets of his character, how those intermingle and come out uniquely in each of us just seems to baffle our minds.  We see being in the "image" of someone as being a carbon copy - but being in the image of God allows for us to be uniquely who he created us to be.  You see, when he did the creating, he put together the aspects of his character which he wanted us to uniquely display.  So, to be anything other than true to the character he put in us is to be untrue to our true identity!

The issue with admiring the image God has created in another and then trying to aspire to "fit" that image is that we put that individual in the position of being an "idol" in our lives.  As you know, God clearly speaks against this.  So, we are to follow the image of Christ we might see in another, but we are not to be envious of the "traits" or "talents" God has given that individual.  The way God made another is not the way he made us - we also display the image of Christ, just in a uniquely awesome manner.  Every one of us has a unique image of Christ - don't be afraid to display what you have been given as the "set" of character traits he puts on display through you.  Some will reveal the love of Jesus through their singing, others through their spoken word in teaching.  Others will open the doors of imagination through their creativity, connecting others to Christ's desire to "create" in their lives, as well.  Regardless of the talent, be true to it, for it is God's unique way of putting himself on display through you!

God did not create me to be you, or you to be me.  He created us to be ourselves.  Finding our true identity in Christ is only the beginning of avoiding the tendency to commit identity theft!  Just sayin!