The Purpose Driven Life, Chapter Thirty Two
Using What God Gave You
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God deserves your best. He shaped you for a purpose, and He expects you to make the most of what you have been given. He doesn't want you to worry about or covet abilities you don't have. Instead He wants you to focus on talents He has given you to use.
The best use of your life is to serve God out of your shape. To do this you must discover your shape, learn to accept and enjoy it, and then develop it to its fullest potential.
DISCOVER YOUR SHAPE
Start finding out and clarifying what God intends for you to be and do.
Begin by assessing your gifts and abilities.
Make a list. Ask other people for their candid opinions. Tell them you're searching for the truth, not fishing for a compliment. Spiritual gifts and natural abilities are always confirmed by others. Ask questions like these: "Where have I seen fruit in my life that other people confirmed? Where have I already been successful?"
The best way to discover your gifts and abilities is to experiment with different areas of service.
Consider your heart and your personality
Ask yourself questions: What do I really enjoy doing most? When do I feel the most fully alive? What am I doing when I lose track of time? Do I like routine or variety? Do I prefer serving with a team or by myself? Am I more introverted or extroverted? Am I more a thinker or a feeler? Which do I enjoy more--competing or cooperating?
Examine your experiences and extract the lessons you have learned.
We rarely see God's good purpose in pain or failure or embarrassment while it is happening. Only in hindsight do we understand how God intended a problem for good.
Extracting the lessons from your experiences takes time. Perhaps you could take a weekend for a life review retreat, where you pause to see how God has worked in the various defining moments of your life and consider how He wants you to use those lessons to help others.
ACCEPT AND ENJOY YOUR SHAPE
Since God knows what is best for you, you should gracefully accept the way he has fashioned you. Your shape was sovereignly determined by God for His purpose, so you shouldn't resent it or reject it. Instead of trying to reshape yourself to be like someone else, you should celebrate the shape God has given only to you.
Part of accepting your shape is recognizing your limitations. Nobody is good at everything, and no one is called to be everything. God assigns each of us a field or sphere of service. Your shape determines your specialty. When we try to overextend our ministry reach beyond what God shaped us for, we experience stress.
God wants you to enjoy using the shape he has given you. Satan will try to steal the joy of service from you in a couple of ways: by tempting you to compare your ministry with others, and by tempting you to conform your ministry to the expectations of others. Both are deadly traps that will distract you from serving in the ways God intended. Whenever you lose your joy in ministry, start by considering if either of these temptations is the cause.
There are two reasons why you should never compare your shape, ministry, or the results of your ministry with anyone else. First, you will always be able to find someone who seems to be doing a better job than you and you will become discouraged. Or you will always be able to find someone who doesn't seem as effective as you and you will get full of pride. Either attitude will take you out of service and rob you of your joy.
You will find that people who do not understand your shape for ministry will criticize you and try to get you to conform to what they think you should be doing. Ignore them. Avoid comparisons, resist exaggerations, and seek only God's commendation.
KEEP DEVELOPING YOUR SHAPE
We are to cultivate our gifts and abilities, keep our hearts aflame, grow our character and personality, and broaden our experiences so we will be increasingly more effective in our service.
The best use of your life is to serve God out of your shape. To do this you must discover your shape, learn to accept and enjoy it, and then develop it to its fullest potential.
DISCOVER YOUR SHAPE
Start finding out and clarifying what God intends for you to be and do.
Begin by assessing your gifts and abilities.
Make a list. Ask other people for their candid opinions. Tell them you're searching for the truth, not fishing for a compliment. Spiritual gifts and natural abilities are always confirmed by others. Ask questions like these: "Where have I seen fruit in my life that other people confirmed? Where have I already been successful?"
The best way to discover your gifts and abilities is to experiment with different areas of service.
Consider your heart and your personality
Ask yourself questions: What do I really enjoy doing most? When do I feel the most fully alive? What am I doing when I lose track of time? Do I like routine or variety? Do I prefer serving with a team or by myself? Am I more introverted or extroverted? Am I more a thinker or a feeler? Which do I enjoy more--competing or cooperating?
Examine your experiences and extract the lessons you have learned.
We rarely see God's good purpose in pain or failure or embarrassment while it is happening. Only in hindsight do we understand how God intended a problem for good.
Extracting the lessons from your experiences takes time. Perhaps you could take a weekend for a life review retreat, where you pause to see how God has worked in the various defining moments of your life and consider how He wants you to use those lessons to help others.
ACCEPT AND ENJOY YOUR SHAPE
Since God knows what is best for you, you should gracefully accept the way he has fashioned you. Your shape was sovereignly determined by God for His purpose, so you shouldn't resent it or reject it. Instead of trying to reshape yourself to be like someone else, you should celebrate the shape God has given only to you.
Part of accepting your shape is recognizing your limitations. Nobody is good at everything, and no one is called to be everything. God assigns each of us a field or sphere of service. Your shape determines your specialty. When we try to overextend our ministry reach beyond what God shaped us for, we experience stress.
God wants you to enjoy using the shape he has given you. Satan will try to steal the joy of service from you in a couple of ways: by tempting you to compare your ministry with others, and by tempting you to conform your ministry to the expectations of others. Both are deadly traps that will distract you from serving in the ways God intended. Whenever you lose your joy in ministry, start by considering if either of these temptations is the cause.
There are two reasons why you should never compare your shape, ministry, or the results of your ministry with anyone else. First, you will always be able to find someone who seems to be doing a better job than you and you will become discouraged. Or you will always be able to find someone who doesn't seem as effective as you and you will get full of pride. Either attitude will take you out of service and rob you of your joy.
You will find that people who do not understand your shape for ministry will criticize you and try to get you to conform to what they think you should be doing. Ignore them. Avoid comparisons, resist exaggerations, and seek only God's commendation.
KEEP DEVELOPING YOUR SHAPE
We are to cultivate our gifts and abilities, keep our hearts aflame, grow our character and personality, and broaden our experiences so we will be increasingly more effective in our service.