3 Elements To Ensure You Reach Your Potential

I hear people say, "I don’t know WHAT I’m best at." Or, "How do I reach my potential?"

This can be perplexing because the Bible assures us that God has gifted every person.  

For the leader who is trying to pinpoint how to fully reach their potential, I want to suggest that the problem is not knowing what their gift is, but where it is.

Stop trying to figure out what your gift is and start trying to find where it is.

If you can’t find your gift, it’s not because you don’t have any, it’s because you’ve misplaced it.

My kids have toys. Toys they asked for. Toys they wanted. Toys they’ve used. Every so often they’ll ask, “Dad, where is my toy?”

It’s not that they never had the toy, the problem is they can’t find it. They don’t know where it is.

The toy they’re looking for is typically buried in the back of the closet or shoved under the bed.

Is it possible that there are gifts within you that have been buried?

You have gifts. You’ve been entrusted with abilities. The potential is there, maybe it’s just been misplaced or crowded out by other things.

Below are three elements to ensure that you reach your potential and that your gifts are not wasted.

1.  Mission.

For Christians, the mission is to build Gods kingdom, to share Jesus, and to love people.

The struggle is that we have these things called feelings. 

As a parent, I want to raise Godly kids who are respectful. I long for my kids to make a significant contribution to this world and to make a difference.

It can be challenging because I have feelings like frustration and impatience. If unchecked, I can allow these feelings to demoralize me from being consistent and believing the best.

As a husband, I want to love and honor my wife. I want to communicate and listen.

But again, sometimes I wrestle with feelings that are contrary to what I want.

What about you? What feelings do you wrestle with that are contrary to what you want to do?

Having a worthy mission can pull you through those feelings.

Mission is so important. A mission will sustain you more than feelings of motivation.

Greater than the feelings you’re battling, what mission are you are working to accomplish?

Do You Have A Mission?

If there is not a mission that is inspiring your potential, your motivation to reach it will wear off when contrary feelings begin to rise.

If you have a mission, you have all the reason to be motivated.

A mission will keep you pure.  

A mission will keep you focused.  

A mission will initiate conversation.  

A mission will move you to spend time with your kids.  

A mission will cause you to talk about Jesus.

A mission will drive you to use your gifts.

A mission will motivate you!

A mission brings meaning to your decisions and inspiration to become all that you’re capable of.

2.  Development.

Your calling and potential are things that develop over time. It can expand and grow beyond what you currently know or are experiencing.

Consider the lives of a few followers in the Bible:

Peter

Begins to follow Jesus… later walks on water… gets sent out to do ministry… preaches on the day of Pentecost… used to write letters to the church which end up in the Bible…

Paul

Begins to follow Jesus...  spends time serving in Jerusalem… later is sent out on missionary journeys... writes letters to church communities… preaches the gospels before governors and kings…

Philip

Begins to follow Jesus… becomes one of the seven deacons chosen to serve the church… goes to Samaria as an evangelist… shares the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch… raises four daughters who are virgins and have the gift of prophecy

At what point in each of their lives were they doing what God called them to do?

Was one opportunity less than another? Or, did obedience create greater influence and opportunity for their potential to expand?

Similarly, your potential will begin to grow when you begin to use it.

Your calling can grow based upon your obedience to it today. I believe a calling isn’t a moment that occurs in the future, it’s momentum that carries you into the future.

It’s your decision to delay or develop your potential.

You’ll delay the power of your calling if you don’t start developing it now.

3. Faithfulness.

There is a complex that a lot of people face when they first start going to the gym. It’s wanting to appear stronger than what they are.

This will play out by the newbie placing the weight stopper at a higher weight than what was used when they leave the machine. They’ll add weight to the bar based on who’s walking by. Or, try to keep pace with the person on the treadmill next to them.

Until the person becomes consistent with what they can manage their potential will not be reached.

It takes a consistent approach with manageable weight over time for noticeable results.

If he starts with weight he can manage, if she’s faithful to move weight that she can, growth will occur.  Change will happen and muscle will develop. Steady faithfulness will strengthen one’s potential.

Apostle Paul refers to the importance of faithfulness in the following passage.

2 Timothy 2:1-2

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

Notice that Paul instructs to empower people who are first reliable and ALSO qualified to teach. 

It’s one thing to be able to teach, it’s another to be reliable.

Are you reliable?

Without faithfulness, your qualifications and abilities will never reach their full potential.

Faithfulness is the qualifier in God’s kingdom. God uses those who are faithful.

If you feel unsure about your giftedness, get to work! If you’re worried that you won’t reach your potential start using it!

Stop wasting time with thoughts like, I can’t do it…  that’s not God…  It probably won’t work…  I don’t know what I’m good at.

The only way to find out if you’re good at something is to see if you are!

Quit putting your potential to rest and put it to work!