Use Your Uniqueness

Let’s look at a basic outline taken from Lucado's book of what we’ll be covering in this course. I’ve included just a small overview of each point here, and we’ll develop them much further in future lessons.

Use your uniqueness
(what you do)

Remember the story that Jesus told the people of his day about the talents given by the Master to his servants? In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus said that the master gave each servant according to his own ability. The first two servants invested their talents and doubled them. The last servant was afraid so he hid his talent to try to preserve it until the master came back.

What happened? The master was pleased with the first two equally because they had both taken what they were given, had taken a risk and put them to work out in the marketplace. He welcomed them into his favor and reward. The last servant was given a “tongue lashing” and called a “wicked servant” because he had taken no risks, had misunderstood his master and had done nothing with what he had been given.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to end up my life and have to stand before God to give account for my life and say that I was afraid to do anything with it.

If you are going to be a good steward of what He has given you, then it would probably be in your best interest to discover who you are. We’ll talk in the next lesson a little bit more about a concept called “unpacking your bag.” Lucado uses it in the book to illustrate how God has packed our bags for us for this journey through life. And if we want to know where we are going and what we are supposed to do, we should look in our bags.

The way that we’ll do that is to go back through our early lives and think about certain kinds of stories that will give us insight into who God made us to be. You’ll get more information on that later.

Who Are You Supposed To Be?

How many times do we live our lives like we think someone else wants us to live without stopping to think about how God made us and wants us to operate? One of my favorite quotes from Chuck Swindoll is the following:

“You are not who you think you are. You are not who others think you are. You are who you think others think you are.”

There’s a lot of truth in that observation. Have you ever caught yourself trying to be something that you thought other people thought you should be? There’s pressure from parents, bosses, friends, co-workers, neighbors – and sometimes the worst – the church. The pressure feels crushing at times, doesn’t it? You just feel like you can’t possibly be who everyone wants you to be. Have you ever felt that the real you was buried deep down inside, just waiting to be released on the world – but you aren’t real sure how to become that person that God created you to be?

You’re not alone.

Everyday, millions of Americans go to jobs that they don’t like or know that they are not suited for. And they dread it. But “the mass of men go on living lives of quiet desperation,” as Henry David Thoreau once said. They don’t know how to escape so they feel trapped. They’ve given up on believing that there just might be something out there that they are perfectly designed for, and so they settle for living in a way that doesn’t take advantage of their design.

There’s hope. That’s what this course is all about. I want to help you discover (or rediscover) who you are and who God made you to be. We’ll think about what natural talents, strengths, passions and gifts you have and how you can use them for God’s glory.

But let me be honest: It is a process. There are no “quick fixes” or easy answers. I can’t prescribe one simple formula for everyone because each person is unique. People are also at a different point in their journey through life. I’ve had people take this course who were in their early twenties and some who were in their sixties. Some people already know a lot about who they are, and others have not given it that much thought. I don’t know where you are, but I can point you in the right direction and give you some things to think about and pray about that will help you start to take steps in the right direction.