Have you ever been in the presence of someone who is extremely gifted or talented and watched his or her gift at work?
I love to golf, and on more than one occasion, I have been out with a very gifted golfer. They make what is so difficult for most people to do seem so simple and easy.
They just walk up to the ball, take a swing and crack—that little ball is pounded farther that your eyes can believe. These gifted players can also chip or putt the ball with great precision into that little hole on the green.
Gifts With A Higher Purpose
Have you ever thought about just how many gifted, talented, and skilled people there are in this world? The earth is filled with people like this. Can you imagine if every one of these people used the favor that comes with being gifted to draw people to the love of Jesus? That was the reason God gave them the gift.
When you recognize God gave you what He did to better equip you to be an agent of His love, something happens. The eyes of your heart are more able to see Him leading you and you will see and experience continuous opportunities to be used by Him. Then your life won't be about what you can achieve.
It will be about what you believe. What you believe will cause what you can achieve to be used for His glory! You'll experience the plan and purpose and the will of God for your life.
Our scripture verse above comes from the context of the Apostle Paul explaining that God chose Abraham and his seed—the nation of Israel—as His people to represent and reveal God in the earth.
They were given God's ways—the Law of God. It became apparent to them that they could never fulfill God's law perfectly. They would stumble and sin and would need to make sacrifice for their sins. Yet they tried to live righteously according to the law.
What they did not understand was that true righteousness could only be obtained by faith. Every person would fail at living a sinless life. A punishment or sacrifice would have to be made for sin. Sin would have to be removed so that righteousness or being in right standing with God could be achieved.
That's why Jesus came. Man couldn't live sinless and there would never be enough sacrifices to wash man's conscience from his continuing sins. Man could not resolve this sin problem by what he could achieve. It could only happen by what he could believe. That Jesus would die and pay the punishment for all man's sins.
Romans 9:30-33 (Phillips Translation) says this:
Now what do we conclude? That the gentiles, who never seriously pursued righteousness, have attained righteousness by faith. But Israel, earnestly following the Law of righteousness, failed to reach their goal. And why? Because their minds were fixed on what they achieved instead of on what they believed. They tripped over that very stone (Jesus) the scriptures mentions: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.The Jewish people at that time did not understand Jesus. The religious leaders were bent on and taught the people to follow the law perfectly even though they themselves knew that they weren't following it perfectly.
If they only would have admitted that no matter how hard they tried to be good they fell short in their achievements, then their eyes could have been opened to see they needed Jesus too! The Bible tells us that one day they will recognize and admit to that truth!
It's All By The Grace Of God
Each of us wants to and should live our lives for Jesus according to the Word of God and in the best way that we can. Living holy is pleasing to God and helps keep doors closed to Satan's destruction prevailing in our lives.
Even so, we must not make the mistake of glorying in what we can achieve at any level. Any person's ability to achieve anything good is by the grace of God. Even with God's grace—His supernatural help and supply, we will fall short of living perfectly right before God. Even with His help we will fall short in our achievements. So then, since we will fall short, should we not try to achieve? God forbid.
If we used all we had for the Lord, so many more lives could be saved and turned around by God's love. Doing the best we can is good! But in giving God your best, you still have to stay fixed on what you believe—His promises prevailing in your life because of His promise to you, not what you can achieve.
Most people don't see themselves as having great gifts, talents, or abilities. I'm one of them. Do we fall short then because we appear to have less ability to achieve? Absolutely not!
Have Strong Faith
By focusing on what you believe, you lean on God. It's where your faith becomes strong in Him. It's what pleases God more than any achievement. Strong faith is pleasing to God and enables Him to move powerfully in our lives.
So then what is the greatest achievement that God wants us to be good at? Is it a sport, or singing, or intelligence, or organizational skills or any number of great gifts that people display?
No, the greatest achievement that God wants us to develop is to seek and know Him, and stay fixed on what you believe more than what you can achieve!
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Timothy Burt is a pastor, author, and writer. He is best known as the author of Fresh Manna, a daily devotional and online Bible study.
