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The God Potential and The Human Potential

Our parents are part of the generation where “who they are” is defined by “what they do” for a living.  People in my father’s generation stay committed to a particular company, or a particular trade, their whole life.  I have friends whose fathers worked in a plant their whole life and retired from that same plant.  While I have friends who have, over the past 10 years, had four or five different jobs with different companies.  My father’s generation has a hard time with this, and they see it as a lack of loyalty, a loss of “true American work-ethic” and as a desire to “get all they can.”   While our generation sees it as just that, getting all we can, while we can – which is just as wrong.  Either way, we are allowing our actions define us, we are defined by what we do as a “job.”  My father’s generation is allowing their jobs define who they are, while my generation is allowing our ability to rake in the bucks as important to defining ourselves.  I had a friend who was a great programmer and when offered a position with a great company, he refused – because the “package” was not “7-figured” enough.  Our parents were defined by what they did, and we are defined by what we can get – what does that leave for the future?

Neither my position nor my wallet define who I am, God defines me.  You see, if you are defined by your job, what do you do if you are fired or retired?  If your money defines you, what are you when you are broke?  Either definition also allows for some to believe they are better then others, and that is not true at all.  When we define ourselves based on position and money we have the rich claiming they are better then the poor; we have doctors claiming that they are better then the man collecting the garbage.  I am reminded of a joke I heard a while back:

“The human body was trying to determine who was the ‘boss of the body.’  The mouth said, ‘I am the boss.  Without me you could not eat, or speak and you would die of starvation and loneliness – so naturally I am the boss.’  With that the eyes spoke up, ‘No I am the boss.  Without me you would not see where you are going and you could not see the danger approaching.’  Then the brain spoke up, ‘Naturally, I am the boss.  I am the brain and I control everything.  I am the smartest and the most active.’  Then the legs spoke, ‘We are the boss.  Without us you could not get around and run from danger.’  Then the ears spoke, ‘We are naturally the boss.  Without our ability to hear learning would be almost impossible and you could never hear what was going on.’  Then the ‘butt’ spoke up, ‘I believe I should be the leader…’ And with that they all started to laugh.  ‘You.’ They cried.  ‘You are just the butt, you have only one function and it’s the joke of the body.  You could never be the leader.’  With that the butt closed up and refused to work.  Over time the mouth could not eat any more food and lost the ability to speak; the eyes started to see double and lose focus; the brain started to go fuzzy and started to cross up commands to the rest of the body; the ears could not longer make out sounds; the legs could no longer stand and they started to shake in weakness.  It was with that, they all gave in and proclaimed the butt the boss of the body.  But the butt said, ‘I do not want to be a boss.  We all have our functions and when one of us thinks we are better then the rest we lose the ability to function as God intended.  We need to be what God wants us to be and not what others tells us we need to be.’”

You see, when you are whom God made, and not what others demand, you are walking in the truth of the way.  Paul says it this way (paraphrased) “I’m squat if I’m not what God wants me to be.”  Jobs and money do not define us God defines us all.   Here is the problem as I see it.  When we use any other standard to measure others, besides the standard that they are equally in the eyes of God, we lose out on reality.  We miss the opportunity to meet people where God has placed then and we say to them that our value of them is more important then the value given by God.  We replace the “God potential” with the “human potential.” 

The God Potential and the Human Potential

The God potential is something each and every one of us has, without exception.  While the human potential is something we are forced into.  The God potential understands the life God has planned for you; it is, if you will, your “God job description” that benefits you.  While the human potential demands you fit into a “job description” that benefits someone else.  If you are not living in the God potential, you will always come-up short on the “happy” stick.  I know a woman who comes from a long line of doctors; her father is a doctor, his father was a doctor, and his father going back seven generations were all doctors.  The family had a deep and respected history of being doctors, so it was naturally expected that she would become a doctor – and she did.  While her father and family were considered to be “the best” doctors around, she was not considered in that league.  Most of those who worked for her would tell you she was a “good” doctor, but not a “great” doctor.  We would spend hours talking about the “job” and her “heart.”  You see, she did not want to be a doctor; she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.  When she found a position as a kindergarten teacher she became a different person.  When she was a doctor, she was miserable; when she became a teacher, she was the happiest person you would ever want to meet.

Many of us believe we need to make others happy and become what they desire, and that is not true.  We need to make God happy and become what He wants us to be, and in turn we will be happy.  You see, while my friend felt she was right on target for meeting her God potential, the rest of the family was not happy at all, because, as her father put it, “You gave up a great career, and all the benefits that come with it, to become a silly little teacher?  There are people in this world who do not come from families like ours, let them become teachers – we have a higher calling.”  This is the greatest mistruth of them all – because there is no higher calling then doing what God desires from us.

Acts 20:24

“But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love.

blessings,

pastor john

John O’Keefe is the founder of www.ginkworld.net.  John sees a desperate need for the church as a whole to change and reach a new people for Christ.  He is straightforward, honest and calls it the way it he sees it.  John is a graduate of Drew and has been a Senior Pastor and Church Planter