فصل 9

CHAPTER NINE

I AM SECURE

Be Comfortable with Who You Are

There is an underlying pressure in our society to be number one. If we’re not the best, the leader, the fasting pressure in our society to be number one. If we’re not the best, the leader, the fastest, the most talented, the most beautiful, or the most successful, we’re taught to not feel good about ourselves. We have to work harder. We have to run faster. We must stay ahead.

If a neighbor moves into a new house, instead of being inspired and happy for them, we’re intimidated into thinking, That’s making me look bad. I’ve got to keep up. If a coworker gets a promotion, we feel as though we’re falling behind. We know we don’t measure up when a friend tells us they’re going to Europe on vacation, and we’re going to our grandmother’s twelve miles down the road.

If we’re not careful, there will always be someone or something making us feel we’re not up to par. We’re not far enough along. As long as you compare your situation to others, you will never feel good about yourself, because there will always be somebody more talented, more beautiful, more successful.

You have to realize you’re not running their race. You’re running your race. You have a specific assignment. God has given you exactly what you need for the race that’s been designed for you. A friend, a coworker, or a relative may seem to have a more significant gift. They can outrun you and outperform you. That’s okay. You’re not competing with them. They have what they need for their assignment. You have what you need for your assignment.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to keep up with them, wondering, Why can’t I sing like that? Why can’t I be the manager? When am I going to reach their level? If you’re not content with your gift, comfortable with who God made you to be, you’ll go through life frustrated and envious, thinking, I wish I had her looks. I wish I had his talent. I wish I owned their business. No, if you had what they have, it wouldn’t help you; it would hinder you. They have a different assignment.

Quit trying to outperform others, and then you’ll start to feel good about yourself. Don’t condition your contentment upon moving into a new neighborhood, having your business catch up to someone else’s, or getting a promotion. One of the best things I’ve ever learned is to be comfortable with who God made me to be. I don’t have to outperform anyone to feel good about myself. I don’t have to outbuild, outdrive, outrace, out-minister, or outproduce anyone. It’s not about anyone else. It’s about becoming who God made me to be.

Accept the Gift God Has Given You

I’m all for having goals, stretching, and believing big. That’s important. But you have to accept the gift that God has given you. You shouldn’t feel less than if someone seems to have a more significant gift. It takes a secure person to say, “I’m comfortable with who I am.”

I hear ministers who have deep voices and are great orators. They can move the congregation with their words and give you chill bumps, and I stand up in front of my congregation with my Texas twang. This is what I’ve been given. I can improve it. I can develop it. I can cultivate it, but my voice is never going to sound like James Earl Jones. There is always going to be somebody who can minister better, who is further along and more experienced. But you know what? That doesn’t bother me. I know I have the gifts I need for my assignment.

Here’s the key: You don’t have to have a great gift for God to use it in a great way. Do you know what David’s gift was that put him on the throne? It wasn’t his leadership skills. It wasn’t his dynamic personality. It wasn’t his ability to write and play music. It was his gift to sling a rock. He was a sharpshooter with a slingshot. He could have thought, Oh, great. Big deal. I’m good with a slingshot. This is not going to get me anywhere. I’m out in the shepherd’s fields, alone, no people. Just a bunch of sheep. But it was his slingshot, that seemingly insignificant gift, that enabled him to defeat Goliath and eventually put David on the throne.

Quit discounting the gift that God has given you. It may seem insignificant. “I’m not as smart as my sister. Not as talented as my coworker. Can’t write the software like my colleague.” Maybe not, but there’s something God has given you that’s unique, something that will propel you into your destiny, something that will cause you to leave your mark on this generation. Don’t believe the lies that say, “You’re average. There’s nothing special about you. You don’t have the personality that your cousin has. You don’t have the talent of your friend.” No, but you have a slingshot. It’s not so much what you have; it’s the anointing that God puts on it. That slingshot, your gift, may seem ordinary, but when God breathes on it, you’ll defeat a giant twice your size. You’ll be promoted beyond your talent. You’ll go places where you weren’t qualified. You didn’t have the experience. You weren’t next in line, but suddenly a door opened. Suddenly you defeated the giant. Suddenly the Compaq Center was yours. Suddenly the dream comes to pass.

Don’t Wait for a Title or Position

Too often we pursue titles and positions, thinking we’ll feel good about ourselves when we have them. “When I make it to sales manager, when I get on the varsity cheerleading squad, when I’m the head usher, the senior partner, the lead supervisor…” That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with titles, but you don’t need a title to do what God has called you to do. Don’t wait for people to approve you, affirm you, or validate you. Use your gift, and the title will come.

If David would have waited for a title, we wouldn’t be talking about him today. When he went out to face Goliath, the whole army was watching him. And what’s interesting is that David wasn’t a general. He wasn’t a corporal. He wasn’t a sergeant. He wasn’t even enlisted. He didn’t have a title, a name badge, a uniform, or a single credential. He could have said, “I can’t do anything great. I don’t have a position. I am just a shepherd. Nobody is celebrating me. Nobody is validating my gifts.” In fact, it was just the opposite. People were telling him how he was not qualified, how he was too small, how he was going to get hurt. That didn’t bother David. His attitude was, I don’t need a title. I don’t need a position. You didn’t call me, and you don’t have to approve me. God called me. He gave me this gift. It may seem small or insignificant to you, but I’m not here to impress you. I’m not here to please you. I’m here to fulfill my destiny. He went out and defeated Goliath. In a few years they gave him a title: King of Israel. Use your gifts, and the titles will come.

“Well, Joel. As soon as they crown me King of the Office, I’ll start being my best.” “As soon as they make me the head usher, I’ll show up early and give it my all.” It works the other way around. You have to show them what you have, then the approval, then the recognition, then the reward will come.

When my father was seventeen years old, he gave his life to Christ, the first one in his family to do so. He knew that he was called to preach, but his family was very poor. They lost everything during the Great Depression, barely had enough food, and didn’t have any money. He couldn’t afford to go to college. He didn’t have a position or title. No denomination was backing him up, and none of the family was saying, “John, follow your dreams. Do what’s in your heart.” His family told him, “John, you better stay here on the farm with us and pick cotton. You’re going to get out there and fail.” Daddy could have thought, I feel this calling. I know I have something to offer if somebody was just behind me. But he didn’t wait for a title or a position. He didn’t wait for people to validate him. At seventeen, he started hitchhiking to different towns to minister in the seniors’ homes, in the prisons, and on street corners. He used what he had. It didn’t seem like much. Compared to other ministers who had been to seminary and had training, he would have been considered insignificant, unqualified, and inexperienced. But you can’t wait for people’s approval to do what God has called you to do.

What you have may seem small. You could feel intimidated, thinking that you don’t have the qualifications, the title, the position. That’s okay. Neither did David. Neither did my father. If you’ll use what you have, God will breathe on it. His anointing on that simple gift will cause you to step into the fullness of your destiny.

We Each Have Our Own Assignment

In the Scripture there was a little boy. All he had was a sack lunch—five loaves of bread, two fish. Nothing much. Not very significant. Yet, when thousands of people were hungry, Jesus took his lunch, multiplied it, and fed the whole crowd. Think about this. The little boy’s mother got up early that morning to make the lunch. She baked the bread and cooked the fish, then she went out and picked some fruit off the tree, dug some vegetables out of the ground. She could have been considered insignificant. She was a homemaker raising a child. Other people were out doing more exciting things, being celebrated, making a splash. If she hadn’t been comfortable with who she was, accepting her assignment, and secure in her gifts, she would have been out competing, trying to outperform others, thinking, I’m falling behind. They’re making me look bad. I’m just making a lunch. I don’t have an important title.

But titles don’t bring fulfillment. Keeping up with your neighbors doesn’t bring happiness. Trying to impress all your friends will make your life miserable, but running your race, understanding your assignment, and being comfortable with who God made you to be is what brings true fulfillment. We hear a lot about the little boy being willing to give the lunch, but it all started when his mother took time to make the lunch. She used her gift that seemed small. Just making a lunch. But God took the lunch, multiplied it, fed thousands, and we’re still talking about it many years later.

Don’t discount the gift God has given you. It may seem small just making a lunch for your children, but you don’t know how God is going to use the child for whom you’re making the lunch. You may be raising a president, a world leader, a great scientist, an entrepreneur, a business leader, or a pastor. You may not touch the world directly, but your child may change the world. Your assignment may be to help your seed go further. Are you secure enough to play the role that God has given you? Are you comfortable enough to not have to be number one, to be in the front, to have the title, the position, to keep up with others? We put so much emphasis on rising to the top, in being the leader. And yes, I believe in excelling and having big gifts and big dreams, but I also know that everyone can’t be the leader. Everyone can’t run the company. Everyone can’t be on the platform. Somebody must open the doors. Somebody has to play the music. Somebody has to show people where to sit and where to park. The beauty of our God is that He has given us each an assignment. Every one of us has a specific gift and purpose.

What Is Your Assignment?

Think about this: Who was more important? The little boy with the lunch or the mother who made the lunch? Without the mother, we wouldn’t be talking about the miracle. Who is more important? As the senior pastor, am I more important than the ones who open the building? Without them, we couldn’t get in. Or is it the ones who turned on the lights, the sound system, and the cameras? Or perhaps the ones who paid the bills during the week? Or maybe it’s the ones who poured the foundation some forty years ago and built the beautiful facility? Or maybe it’s the ones who have supported the ministry down through the years? Here’s the point. The answer is that we’re all equally important. Without one, the whole thing wouldn’t function properly. Be secure enough to play your role.

We look at who’s in front, getting the credit and recognition. They’re the leader. A lot of times we look up to them and admire them. That’s where we want to be, but if that’s not where we’re called to be, if it’s not where we’re gifted, if it’s not a part of our assignment, then we’re going to be frustrated because it’s not happening. If we do get there, we’ll be frustrated trying to keep ourselves there, because if you promote yourself and manipulate your way into a position, you will have to constantly work to try to stay in that position. But where God takes you, He will keep you. Where you force your way, you have to keep yourself.

It’s much better to have the attitude, I don’t have to be ahead of my friend to feel good about myself. I don’t have to be on the main stage. I’m happy being in the background. I don’t have to be the little boy with the lunch. I’m happy to be the mom who made the lunch. I’m happy to sing in the choir. I’m happy to make my company look good.

When you’re not competing, not comparing, not trying to be something that you’re not, life gets a lot freer. It takes all the pressure off. And yes, I realize there are some positions that carry more weight and more importance, but in God’s eyes the usher is just as important as the pastor. The people who clean the building are just as important as the people who own the building. The secretary is just as important as the supervisor.

God is not going to judge you based on your neighbor’s gift or your brother’s gift or by how high you rose in the company. He is going to judge you based on the assignment that He has given you. Did you run your race? Not did you outperform your neighbor, were you more successful than your cousin, did you get more credit or recognition than your colleague? You’re not competing with them. They’re running a different race.

God is going to say to Queen Esther, “Did you have the courage to step up and save the nation as I gifted you to?” He is going to ask the little boy’s mother, “Did you get up early and make the lunch as I gifted you to?” Two different assignments. Two different giftings. God is not going to compare. He’s not going to say, “Oh, Esther. I’m prouder of you. You did so much more than the boy’s mother who just made a little lunch.” No, it’s all going to be about whether or not we fulfilled our assignment.

Don’t Be Distracted by Others

A few years ago I was out running. There was a man in front of me about a quarter of a mile who was running a little slower than me, so I decided to try to catch him. I had about a mile to go before I needed to turn off and head down my path. I picked up the pace, and I could tell every block that I was gaining on him. Within a few minutes I was only about a hundred yards behind him, and I started really pushing it. You would have thought I was in the final lap of the Olympic Games. I finally caught up to him, passed by him, and felt so good that I beat him. Of course, he didn’t know we were racing! The funny thing is that when I got my mind back on what I was doing, I realized I had missed my turn. I was so focused on trying to catch him that I went about six blocks out of my way. I had to turn around and go back.

That’s what happens when we’re competing with other people, trying to outperform them, dress better than them, make sure we’re more successful. We end up competing in a race that we were never supposed to be in. Take the pressure off. It’s very freeing to say, “I’m okay with you being ahead of me, getting more recognition, and doing something more exciting. I’m not going to feel bad about myself. If you have a bigger house, a badder car, and more success, you have what you need for your assignment. I have what I need for my assignment. I don’t have to keep up with you. I’m not in the same race.” You’re not really free until you know you’re not competing with anyone else.

This is one of the reasons why King Saul lost the throne. He had been happy running his race. Life was good until he heard some women saying, “Saul has killed thousands, and David has killed tens of thousands.” From that moment on, he never looked at David the same way. What was his problem? He couldn’t handle somebody getting ahead of him. He was fine as long as he was number one, but he couldn’t handle being number two. He got distracted and spent months and months trying to kill David, all because he wasn’t comfortable with who he was.

Maybe like Saul you’re at the one thousand level but you have a friend who’s at the ten thousand level. The real test to see if God can promote you is, can you celebrate people who pass you by? Can you be happy for them and stay focused on your race, or does it frustrate you and cause you to think, I’ve got to catch up with them. Our attitude should be, I may not be a ten-thousand-level person. God may have made me to be a one-thousand-level person, but I can promise you this: I’m going to be the best one-thousand-level person you’ve ever seen. I’m not going to stop at 950, 980, or 999. I’m going to become all God has created me to be.

Don’t Compare Yourself. Celebrate Yourself.

Friend, your race is run by one person—you. Don’t get distracted with competing against a neighbor, a friend, or a coworker. Just run your race. Here’s a phrase I like: Don’t compare yourself. Celebrate yourself.

Somebody else may have conquered ten thousand. You’ve conquered a thousand, but you know what? A thousand is still good. Celebrate what you’ve accomplished. Very few people today can say, “I like myself. I’m happy with my gifts. I am satisfied with who God made me to be.” Remember, you don’t have to have a great gift for God to use it in a great way. It may seem small, making a child’s lunch or slinging a rock as David did, but when you use what you have, God will breathe on it and do amazing things.