Work Out Your Potential
By Colleen Donahue
God created everything with potential, or the ability to be much more than we are at this moment. Life is always about what we can be --- NOT what we have done. Potential is always waiting to be exposed and we soon lose it whenever we settle down and are satisfied.
You may remember when Jesus told us that unless a kernel of wheat is planted and dies it remains alone. He was telling us about potential. A kernel of wheat has the potential to produce a whole field of wheat. Since Jesus was predicting his death in this passage (John 12), he was telling us that through His death He had the potential to bring millions to God and to bring about a plentiful harvest of new lives.
Hebrews 11:3 also tells us something very important about our potential. It says this, “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” The entire universe was formed at God’s command or word. Everything that ever was or is now was at one time IN God. He told us His name was “I am”. This means that before anything was, there was God. So God took what was inside of Himself – the invisible—and He made it visible.
How does this translate to us? God has given each of us a package of gifts and talents that He expects us to use for the good of others. As we move through life, we’ll have an idea about doing something. We can’t see it but it exists inside of us. Then, through work and using the materials that God created, we build a business, make a work of art, launch out on a teaching career, write a book, or do any number of things.
All of us have a purpose in God’s universe to fulfill. He gives us everything He knows that we’ll need to fulfill that purpose. So, if we want to release our full potential, we must stay related to our Creator who is the source of our life. He will never make demands on us that we can’t fulfill so we don’t need to fear to step out and act on that “invisible dream” inside of us.