Potential. It’s truly a powerful word. One definition for potential in the Unabridged Merriam-Webster Dictionary reads: “having the capacity for acting or being acted upon and hence for undergoing change.” While the element of change that is mentioned is worth another blog post for another time, the aspect of “having the capacity” for this change is where I want to park for a bit.
Think of the various areas of your life—social, physical, spiritual, financial, intellectual. In a moment, I’m going to ask you to truthfully evaluate how much of your capacity you are using in each of these areas. But first, an explanation and a warning:
Explanation: If I know that I can be in better physical shape, and I am choosing to eat right but not put forth the effort to exercise, ever, I’m probably only using 50 percent of my capacity in the physical realm. If I choose to increase my potential to be in better physical condition and begin exercising a couple of days a week, I may be able to say that I’m using 70 percent of my capacity in that area. The more I am deliberate about my choices and the greater the percentage of my capacity I am using, the greater my potential will be in that area.
Warning: My “capacity meter” is not the same as yours, nor is yours the same as mine. I can’t look at an Olympic runner whose long legs (and for those of you I’ve never met in person, let’s just leave it at the fact that my legs have never been nor ever will be described as long) and compare my physical capacity with hers. She may have long legs and the capacity to do great things, but if she is not choosing to train them, she may only be at 40 percent of her capacity. For the sake of this exercise, I can only look at my capacity and how I am stewarding its potential.
Okay, it’s time to evaluate and to answer this question (Don’t hurry. I’ll wait!): What percentage of my capacity am I using in the following areas:
Social?
Physical?
Spiritual?
Financial?
Intellectual?
Obviously, as a faith-based blogger, the one I’m most concerned with is the spiritual element. As I began preparing this post, it was headed in a totally different direction. But as I took this little “evaluation quiz” myself (in my ongoing efforts to share what I am personally learning—even the difficult stuff), I began looking up Scriptures to add to this post to help you with your areas of weakness. Big mistake! (Actually, big blessing!) As I read these verses (these are only a few), the words I’ve put in bold type were the ones that especially stood out to me.
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29, NIV).
“‘Do not be afraid,’ Samuel replied. ‘You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart‘” (1 Samuel 12:20, NIV).
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, NLT).
“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” (Jeremiah 29:13, NLT).
It was as if God used His own words, recorded in Scripture for all time, to say directly to me, “Using anything less than 100 percent of your current capacity in the spiritual realm is not enough. Having the potential to be a spiritual leader, having the potential to love Me wholeheartedly, having the potential to be known as a child of grace and devoted follower of Christ, planning to someday fulfill your spiritual potential is not enough. Brenda, you are squandering your potential. It’s time to not only steward your time and your finances; it’s time to properly steward your potential.”
I closed my Bible and looked around for some spiritual Band-Aids! Ouch! After some intense carpet-smelling prayer of falling on my face before God, I came back to my computer to share what God was teaching me. For you, it may be another area (social, physical, financial, or intellectual). But before you skim the rest, thinking that it doesn’t apply to you because it’s not currently your area of “least capacity usage,” let me encourage you to remember that anything less than 100 percent (“all” in many of the verses above) is not acceptable to the One who created you, loved you, and paid the ultimate ransom for your sin debt. I’ll keep the rest brief, I promise. But it’s imperative to me to pass along to you the reminder I was given in each of these verses and through these thoughts: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). The bottom line of this verse, as it relates to this post: Get the spiritual potential to 100 percent capacity, and the rest will follow!
As I took the time to evaluate this area and found myself living “under-capacity” in my potential for the spiritual elements that should be the driving factor for every other area of my life, I found three things that stood out as distractions, thereby causing me to squander my spiritual potential. I share them here so that you can avoid them, put on the brakes and change directions if you’re in the midst of them, and move forward to reach a capacity level of 100 percent.
1. Avoid friendships that tear down your spiritual walls.
“But, Brenda, these are my friends. I need to be a light in the darkness.” And sadly, we often add, “And besides, they’re Christians.” Often when we try to be a part of the darkness under the pious guise of shining a light there, we are actually providing a light (dim though it may be) for others to join us in the darkness. If you’re truly shining a light that points to the Light, shine on! And shine brightly! Otherwise, walk out of the darkness of the friendships that are not expecting you to—or empowering you to—fulfill your spiritual potential. By surrounding yourself with those who encourage you to utilize every inch of your spiritual capacity, your light will shine like a beacon into the darkness, beckoning others to follow you into the light of His grace.
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (NASB, 1977, emphasis mine). [Note that they are the ones who will glorify God for having seen your light. If you’re no different from them, what is there to follow?]
2. Avoid futuristic thinking.
I confess, I have a bucket list. While I’m a goal-driven person, my bucket list sometimes bothers me. I don’t like the concept of someday. In fact, I wrote an entire post/poem about it here. (I’d encourage you to read it at some point, if you haven’t already.) For me personally, when I dwell on what I will do someday, it means I’m aware that I have the potential to do that thing or to be that kind of person, but that I’m not currently ready or willing to do so. If I know the potential is there, I must keep moving forward to fulfill that potential: 100 percent, 100 percent of the time!
3. Avoid focusing on failure (and the fear it produces).
This is the biggie for me. I mess up—a lot…and often. Even when I want to think I’m giving the appearance of having it together and successfully orchestrating the various areas of my life (and therein lies the root of the problem: I am trying to orchestrate what the Master Musician has already composed), if and when I slip up, falter, or downright fail, I become inwardly paralyzed by the fear of moving forward. “People have lost their trust in me. It’s no use trying.” “What if people think I’m a fanatic for radically making a transformation when they know I’m probably just going to mess it up again?” “My secret sin is so bad that I could never be considered a truly godly person.” Oh, precious friend, what we (I) so quickly fail to remember is this: His grace is greater! Please forgive the repetition, but I must say that again, in bold print this time: His grace is greater! And He offers it freely and daily, demonstrated by the open arms of His unconditional love!
“God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant” (Romans 5:20, NLT).
So let me ask all of us, myself included, one final, two-sided question: Will you squander your spiritual potential by stifling its growth through seeking and nurturing spiritually unhealthy friendships, dwelling on futuristic thinking, or focusing on past failures and the fear they produce, or will you fulfill your spiritual potential, thereby experiencing the untold blessings that He has waiting for you in every area of your life?
The bottom line is this: the choice is yours.