Talents

I've been reading Brave Enough to Follow by Stuart Briscoe. And God's timing for when I started reading it sure is funny.

Someone challenged me to consider why I'd found success at work, why God led me to be promoted to leadership at a young age of 27. And my answer, which I said as if I was joking but probably reflected my heart pretty accurately, was "I always thought it was because I was awesome."

And that was the night I picked up Brave Enough to Follow. And read quotes like these:

"We often fall under the misconception that for God to do great work through us, we need to have the makings of greatness...the reality is upside down from what we think it should be. We don't have to have the courage to lead; we just need to be brave enough to follow." 

"It seems the more powerless the leader, the more glory God receives."

"If God always chose the obvious leaders to do his work, people would take all the glory for themselves. But if we are clearly weak and flawed, yet we have a part in establishing his kingdom, we cannot boast about ourselves but must instead boast that we know the Lord. God does great things through the not-so-brave among us, so the world can see that the glory is his and his alone."

Thanks, God.

Turns out maybe he's brought me to where I am because I'm not that awesome.

I think I tend to rely fairly heavily on what I perceive as my talents. I forget that even these are gifts from God, and that I can best use my talents when I'm doing so through his power.

After Peter catches the miraculous catch of fish, he tells Jesus to go away. He calls Jesus "Lord" and himself a "sinful man." In that moment, Peter saw how Jesus' power could transform his somewhat average fishing skills (and that particular night, subpar skills), and he knew God's glory. He was humbled.

I want to be the kind of person that shines God's glory through the work I do—not the kind of person that thinks I got where I am because I'm so great. I want God to transform my average talent into an overflowing net of fish.