Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.
—1 CORINTHIANS 12:7 THE MESSAGE
No one else has your “you-ness.” No one else in all history has your unique history. No one else in God’s great design has your divine design. No one else shares your blend of personality, ability, and ancestry. When God made you, the angels stood in awe and declared, “We’ve never seen one like that before.” And they never will again. Your journey is one of a kind.
You are heaven’s first and final attempt at you. You are matchless, unprecedented, and unequaled.
Consequently, on your new-beginning journey you can do something no one else can do in a fashion no one else can.
Others can manage a team but not with your style. Others can cook a meal but not with your flair. Others can teach kids, tell stories, aviate airplanes. You aren’t the only person with your skill. But you are the only one with your version of your skill. You entered the world uniquely equipped. You were “knit . . . together . . . woven together in the dark of the womb” (Ps. 139:13, 15 NLT), “intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors]” (v. 15 AMP).
Each of us—not some of us, a few of us, or the elite among us. Each of us has a special way—a facility, a natural strength, a tendency, or an inclination. A beauty that longs to be revealed and released. An oak within the acorn, pressing against the walls of its shell. This “special way” is quick to feel the wind at its back. It is the work for which you are ideally suited.
This is your destiny. This is you at your best. When you stand at the intersection of your skill and God’s call, you are standing at the corner of Begin Again Avenue and Second Chance Boulevard, where Noah stood after the flood.
Many people stop short of their destiny. They settle for someone else’s story. “Grandpa was a butcher, Dad was a butcher, so I guess I’ll be a butcher.” “Everyone I know is in farming, so I guess I’m supposed to farm.” Consequently, they risk leading dull, joyless, and fruitless lives. They never sing the song God wrote for their voices. They never cross a finish line with heavenward-stretched arms and declare, “I was made to do this!”
They fit in, settle in, and blend in. But they never find their call. Don’t make the same mistake.
“It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others” (Eph. 2:10 TLB). Your existence is not accidental. Your skills are not incidental. God “shaped each person in turn” (Ps. 33:15 THE MESSAGE).
Everybody gets a gift. And these gifts come in different doses and combinations. “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is” (1 Cor. 12:7 THE MESSAGE).
Our inheritance is grace based and equal. But our assignments are tailor-made. No two snowflakes are the same. No two fingerprints are the same. Why would two skill sets be the same? No wonder Paul said, “Make sure you understand what the Master wants” (Eph. 5:17 THE MESSAGE).
Do you understand what your Master wants? Do you know what makes you, you? Have you identified the features that distinguish you from every other human who has inhaled oxygen?
You have an “acreage” to develop, a lot in life. So “make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that” (Gal. 6:4 THE MESSAGE).
You be you. No one else is like you. Imagine a classroom of kids on a given day in a given school. Ten of the twenty-five students are fighting to stay awake. Ten others are alert but ready to leave. Five students are not only awake and alert, but they don’t want the class to end. They even do odd things like extra homework or tutoring. What class was that intriguing to you?
“If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11 NKJV, emphasis mine). Ability reveals destiny. What is your ability? What do you do well? What do people ask you to do again? What task comes easily? What topic keeps your attention?
Your skill set is your road map. It leads you to your territory. Take note of your strengths. They are bread crumbs that will lead you out of the wilderness. God loves you too much to give you a job and not the skills. Identify yours.
Look for ways to align your job with your skills. This may take time. This may take several conversations with your boss. This may take trial and error . . . but don’t give up. Not every tuba player has the skills to direct the orchestra. If you can, then do. If you can’t, blast away on your tuba with delight.
“Stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6 NKJV, emphasis mine).
You be you. Don’t be your parents or grandparents. You can admire them, appreciate them, and learn from them. But you cannot be them. You aren’t them. “Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life” (Gal. 6:4–5 THE MESSAGE).
Jesus was insistent on this. After the resurrection he appeared to some of his followers. He gave Peter a specific pastoral assignment that included great sacrifice. The apostle responded by pointing at John and saying, “‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me’” (John 21:21–22 NCV). In other words don’t occupy yourself with another person’s assignment; stay focused on your own.
A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like Danny. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam.
So Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam.
Turns out, all Adam had to do was be himself.1
So when you begin again, stay in your own lane. Run your own race. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete. God does not judge you according to the talents of others. He judges you according to yours. His yardstick for measuring faithfulness is how faithful you are with your own gifts. You are not responsible for the nature of your gift. But you are responsible for how you use it.
So run! Move forward by faith! Find your lot in life and live in it.
You be you.