Maximizing Your Potential

tremendous ability we have and we look at the earth houses that contain that treasure (see 2 Corinthians 4:7). He created us to show forth His power, but we are more interested in success by the world’s standards. He affirms our ability to tap into His wisdom, but we make decisions based on the information we receive from our physical senses and our education. Our poverty of knowledge is revealed by our inability to fulfill God’s potential on our own. We live aimlessly without purpose, flitting from one thing to another and never accomplishing anything. Such life is a waste of time. Without a sense of purpose we are like stillborn babies. Your potential will be wasted if you do not allow God to cleanse your sight and redirect your values. Then you can escape this purposeless existence. This occurs as you become aware of the world’s standards and compare them carefully with God’s. You may be surprised by what you find. Potential Under Attack The Bible says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7c). It’s time you and I reevaluate the standards of the world. Our cars are faster but weaker. Our clothes are sharper, but they come apart at the seams. Our vinyl shoes shine nicely, but they lack the durability of leather. What appears to be better may indeed be a compromise on value and worth. These upside-down values are attacking your potential. Our world has become very concerned about pollution issues. Environmental groups are angered by oil spills and they warn us about the need to protect endangered animals, rain forests, and waterways. As consumers we are constantly reminded to dispose of waste properly as part of the effort to protect our planet’s air and water supplies, and we are encouraged to recycle to promote the wise use of the earth’s resources. Sadly, we are more concerned about the destruction of the earth’s atmosphere than we are about the poisoning of our children by the airwaves they breathe in our homes. We are interested in the purity of the water we drink, but we do not monitor the pollutants that fill our minds. Our world is sick because we value the wrong things. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because their values were mixed up. As Jesus and His disciples were walking through a grain field, they were picking and eating grain because they were hungry. Since it was the Sabbath, the Pharisees complained that they were breaking the law. He answered [them], “Haveyou never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?...he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not