What is your “Highest Potential”?

What is your “Highest Potential”?

How can you know your potential?

Reading and underlining through Psalm 119 recently I came on this. It immediately got me thinking about our potential as God’s premier creative work. “I,” the writer pens, “have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad.”

I’ve been musing over this ever since.

Eugene Peterson paraphrased, “a limit to all perfection,” to say “there are limits to everything human.” (THE MESSAGE) He relates “Your commandment is exceedingly broad,” with “the horizons can’t contain your commands.” (THE MESSAGE)

Are there “limits to everything human”?

Spend a week watching television sales pitches. Zero in on those that have to do with a person’s weight. Then ask yourself how we’re doing with this. What are the standards? Who decides what’s the best “body”? Do you have a shot at this year’s “sexiest photo shoot?” Are we better off because of what’s being offered as our hope for a “perfect” physique?

How about “the horizons can’t contain your commands”?

Actually I disagree with Peterson’s paraphrase here. He seems to be saying that God has issued “an infinite number of commands.” The NRSV – New Revised Standard Version – translation, “Your commandment is exceedingly broad,” on the other hand, suggests potential. God’s command is liberating. He’s created us to live a certain way and the limits are “far out!”

When we do so there’s no limit to what we’ll become!

Read Daniel Chapter 1. Four young men, trained in the ways of God, are Prisoners of War. They’re being considered for placement in the Country where they’re captives. The Emperor demands that they be fed, and trained according to his regimen. The young men insist that they cannot eat food that is not “Kosher.” They’ll not eat the Emperor’s meat. It’s from animals offered to false gods and those who presume to be god. They will, under these circumstances, eat only vegetables. And their knowledge will be restricted to the “wisdom” of the “Most High God,” the Lord; Israel’s God. When the Emperor, not knowing they’d secretly gotten permission to continue in the “ways” of “Jehovah,” examined them, “he found them far superior to all the other young men … so they took their place in the king’s service. Whenever the king consulted them on anything concerning books, or life he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom put together.”

Words to build a Life on …

Jesus said, “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.” (Matthew 4: 24 & 25 THE MESSAGE) These are “foundational words.” They describe a way of life that knows no limits. The potential of such a life is far-reaching. Challenged? Yes! Torrential “rains” do come. There will be floods. Even tornadoes will ravage the surrounding regions. This house will stand undamaged. Such lives prevail! The potential is unlimited!

Marshalling and Directing your Energies Wisely

We live in a mountainous region. I am delighted to have access to the recreational options the mountains offer; hiking; mountain-biking; occasional hunting and fishing. When Friends and Family visit some of them want to join me “up there.” Interestingly they often aren’t able to sustain even a very low tempo pace. And this doesn’t just apply to older folks. I’ve had to settle for a walk/wait gait to accommodate people less than half my age. They’re simply not fit. They’ve not trained for such rigorous activity for any length of time.

Years ago I learned that our bodies are the actual “dwelling place” of God. And I determined that I would make it a high priority to keep it as fit as one would expect the “Palace” of the Supreme Being to be. With that I adopted a regimen to do so. I ran, worked out, and rode a bike regularly. As this went along another aspect of a “fitness” regimen came into play. The stronger I became the stronger I wanted to be. I got faster and more competitive. The demands on my time; particularly time with my Family, increased. I had to make a choice. I’d have to choose a balanced, moderate discipline of my body before the “hunk” I thought I was seeing in the mirror became an idol. I discovered that God commands “moderation,” also. Today, while still fit, there are a lot of Women who can out run, out ride, out swim me. I hate to have to admit that. But I can, actually, accept it more readily than to wake up one morning to the shocking realization that I made something, other than Christ’s blueprint for my highest potential, too important. “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone – least of all yourself – put a harness of slavery on you. … (F)ind yourself … not needing to force your way in life …able to marshal and direct your energies wisely.”(Galatians 5: 1 & 23 THE MESSAGE)

What becomes of such a person?

They get the nickname – “Christian.” … People say they’re like “Christ.” … Others say, of them, “they have been with Jesus.”

How’s that for potential?