A man was attending a community prayer breakfast and sat
down at a table with a group of other men.
He writes: “In the course of our conversation, the subject of retirement came up.
The man sitting next to me, who appeared to be in his early fifties, was
excited by the prospect of early retirement.
He said how much he was looking forward to stopping working and related
a conversation he had with his wife that morning. His wife had asked him: 'What are you going
to do when you retire?' I told her, 'I'm
going to sit on the couch, drink beer and watch TV all day.” The table turned suddenly silent, but I
couldn't keep quiet for long. "If you do that," I said, "you'll
be dead in a year." He looked at
me, wide-eyed and asked why. I said,
"If doing nothing with your life doesn't kill you first, your wife will.”
Religious truth is generally expressed as a paradox. For example, the Bible and Christian faith
make this biblical and theological claim, you are God's creation. You were created by God. You were created in God's image. God breathed life into you. You were born by God's purpose and for God's
purpose. Obviously, there is the counter-claim,
the anthropological claim: “But what
about my parents who conceived me, and my DNA and genetics which shaped me, and
the environment I grew up in which formed who I am?” Yes, both are true, it's a paradox.
Notwithstanding, we confess this biblical and theological
truth-claim that God created you as a unique person, one of a kind and made you
wonderfully complex! God didn’t make us
simple. Are you always
predictable? How many of you married
somebody who is or was wonderfully complex?
How many of you have a friend or
colleague or family member who is wonderfully complex? Just when you think you understand them, just
when you think you've got them dialed in - they surprise you. Sometimes we are a complete mystery to
ourselves. Have you ever acted in a
certain way or said something and later thought - “Now why did I do that?” “Why did I say that?” “What was I
thinking?” God fashioned and shaped you
and me. We are unique and marvelously
complex.
God further shaped us for a purpose. I like the locution, “One enthusiastic flea can worry a whole dog.” God created the world and God created us for
a purpose. You’re not an accident or a
mistake. You're not an oops! You're not just taking up space or gulping
air. God made you for a reason. You were designed by God; you were God's
idea. The Bible declares that you
were personally, purposefully, planned
and designed by God. God didn't just
randomly throw some stuff in the air and see where it landed to make you.
Further, God didn't create us to squander or waste away our
lives or to use and exploit people around us.
God didn't create us for some trivial purpose. God didn't create us as a joke. God created us for a reason. God made and saved us for significance, to
live and to lead significant lives in the years God has given us.
We are reminded in this Pentecost season, that God, through
His Holy Spirit, has shaped our lives.
The letter of Ephesians says: “But each of us was given grace according to
the measure of Christ's gift. When
Christ ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive and gave gifts to
his people.” When Jesus ascended to
heaven, he sent his Holy Spirit at Pentecost to impart gifts to his
followers.
The purpose of these gifts was to equip the saints for the
work of ministry, that we might mature in the fullness of Christ. The letter of Romans speaks about the “grace
God has blessed us with, a grace which brings humility and means we are not to
think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. By grace, through the Holy Spirit, God has
given us gifts and abilities.
The Bible says you and I have a God inspired shape, your
Godly design affects every area of your life - your relationships, your career,
your intellect, your emotions, your values, your priorities, your interests,
your passions, your enjoyment, your faith.
Your shape combines five factors.
God has shaped you for a purpose in the years you are blessed with on
earth. And what is critical is that your
shape is in sync, in alignment, congruent with, in accord with your
purpose. We shall use the acronym SHAPE to identify how God has made us.
The S is for Spiritual Gifts. The Bible says: “Each
one has a gift from God; one has this gift and another has that gift.” There are many gifts listed in the Bible, like
being an encourager, a teacher, a server, a leader, a healer, a caregiver and
others. I recall a man at our church in
CO who taught adult education classes in the church and taught classes at his
company. He excelled at teaching and
loved it. Clearly God had blessed him
with this gift. The Bible says every
believer has at least one gift and oftentimes two or more gifts which are to be
used to glorify God, upbuild the church and benefit others. Every time you do something and do it well,
and find satisfaction in doing it, you are revealing your giftedness. Do you know your spiritual gift?
The H is for Heart.
It’s what motivates you. All of
us have different motivations, different things that drive us, different interests,
different passions. Would you agree that
there are some things you care deeply about and other things you couldn’t care
less about? We have different hearts. Scripture says, “God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose. For it is God who works in you, inspiring
both the will and the deed, for his own chosen purpose.” I was talking with a preschool teacher who
told me how much she loves children. She
said she is doing what she was meant to do when she is teaching and caring for
children. You cannot get away from a
basic interest or passion that God has implanted in your life. It’s not by accident that you have certain
interests. God blesses us with different
motivations in life to accomplish different things. Ask yourself. “What do I love to do? What am I passionate about?”
The A is for Abilities. God has given us
abilities. I Cor. 12:6 says: “There
are different abilities to perform different services.” Some people think they don’t have any
abilities, but we all do.
Some are athletes and exhibit impressive athletic
ability. Some are proficient at
computers; while others are computer phobic.
Some of you have a natural mechanical ability, you can fix anything,
while others aren’t sure which end of a hammer to use. Some of you are good cooks or amazing
gardeners. Some are blessed with
mathematical abilities, others eyes glaze over when confronted with a set of
numbers. Some are visionaries – they
dream of curing cancer, or they dreamed of flying to the moon, or of inventing
an automobile or an airplane. One
dreamed of building a theme park called Disneyland . Disneyland
celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
Some are analytical and are exceptional problem
solvers. Some are effective
communicators. Some are excellent
managers and can manage projects and people.
Others are weak in their people skills and are better working with
machines. Some possess marvelous
artistic abilities, in writing, poetry, music, art, and others couldn't draw or
paint a stick figure. We have different
abilities. Your abilities are not by
accident. What are your abilities?
The P is for Personality. Are you a Lucy Ricardo? Are you a Bill O'Reilly or a Tiger Woods or a
Tina Fey or a Megan Kelly? Personality is
the dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person.
It especially refers to the way you act, the way you feel and the way
you think. The five broad traits
described by contemporary personality theory are extraversion, agreeableness,
openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.
The Bible points to the root of your personality in your thought
life. Proverbs 4:23 says: “Your
life is shaped by your thoughts.” Without
question human personality is complex.
One researcher discovered at least 18,000 different personality
traits.
Is personality something you’re born with or is it the
product of your environment? It’s the
old nature verses nurture debate. More
researchers are saying that from the moment a child is born, they already have
a set pattern of personality characteristics long before their environment
influences them. Parents see this. At the same time, personality is not just
something that happens accidentally.
Faith claims that God has shaped your personality for a reason.
Finally the E is
for Experiences. God plans experiences in your life and mine
to help form us. The bible speaks about
times and seasons. Romans 8:28 says: “And we
know that in all that happens to us God is working for our good for those who
love God.” God works with and
through us in our life experiences. God
uses things in our lives to teach us and to build character. Experiences help us to grow and mature. God tests us on occasion for his
purposes. God doesn't cause terrible
things to happen, but faithfully works with us and through others to bring good
out of bad experiences.
The apostle Paul says:
“By the grace of God, I am what I
am.” Why is it important to
understand how God has shaped you? It
explains how you and I react and deal with life. It reduces stress. It increases your sense of fulfillment and
success. It helps us accept and
appreciate ourselves. It deepens
satisfaction. It builds
self-esteem. It builds faith. It glorifies God.
God has shaped us not for an insignificant life, but for
significance. God desires to hear this
confession from us: “I want to contribute my uniqueness to the world for the
glory of God.” Do you know your shape?
I close with a quote from the late author Og Mandino, a
Christian inspirational speaker and writer.
It's from his book The Greatest Salesman in the World. “I am
nature’s greatest miracle. Since the
beginning of time never has there been another with my mind, my heart, my eyes,
my ears, my hands, my hair, my mouth.
None that came before, none that live today, and none that come tomorrow
can walk and talk and move and think exactly like me. All men are my brothers and I am different
from each.
I am a unique
creature. I am nature’s greatest
miracle. None can duplicate my brush
stokes, none can make my chisel marks, none can duplicate my handwriting, none
can produce my child, and in truth, none have the abilities to sell exactly as
I. I am rare, and there is value in all
rarity; therefore, I am valuable. I am
not on this earth by chance. I am here
for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a
grain of sand. No beast, no plant, no
wind, no rain, no rock, no lake had the same beginning as I, for I was
conceived in love and brought forth with a purpose. Let us give thanks and glory to God for our uniqueness. Amen!
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