(1st Cor 12:20-22 NLT) Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.
This morning we continue to discuss vision/purpose for 2010. I have taught on this before and I hope that this week is merely a refresher/reminder for you of the importance of understanding and walking in your tailor-made assignment.
It is this understanding of purpose that gives birth to vision, vision gives clarity and Godly focus to life, and this Godly focus enables you to maximize your time and potential while you are in the earth. We will focus more on that tomorrow, when we will discuss how purpose maximizes energy and gives time meaning. Today I want to discuss a different benefit, and that is: when we understand our purpose it frees us to celebrate the diversities of callings/gifts without jealousy.
This point reminds me of a powerful lesson I learned early on in my walk with God. It was 1995 and I had just been walking with God for a few months. I was in my room watching a DVD of Bishop T. D. Jakes. Bishop Jakes was still in West Virginia and the tape was from one of his “Back to the Bible” conferences. I was a new believer and I borrowed as many tapes from the other believers there that I could. I was enamored by Bishop Jakes’ preaching style and his story telling ability. I stood in front of the television, watching Jakes, and said to God, “God, I want to preach like T. D. Jakes.” And almost immediately God responded (I don’t mean with an audible voice, but rather with an inner witness), “I did not give you what I have T. D. Jakes. But a few moments later He continued and said, “But I did not give T. D. Jakes what I gave you!”
Wow, what a difference that statement made in my life. I started to point at the television screen and say, “You don’t have what I have! You don’t have what I have!” Now, I will admit that that was not the most humble thing to do, but I did get the message and it was that I am uniquely gifted and there is no need for me to be jealous anyone. Just like no one else has my fingerprint, voiceprint, or eye composition, no one else has my story or my assignment. No one that has come before me has ever lived my life and no one that will come after me will either. My life and my assignment are absolutely ‘one of a kind,’ and so is yours!
So what does this mean to you? Several things:
1. Understanding your uniqueness is a liberating experience. It frees you to be YOU!
2. No one can be a better YOU than YOU!
3. You don’t have to ever be jealous of what others have, because their assignment is tailor-made for them, just like yours is for you.
4. The Father needs us all to do our individual part so that the Body of Christ can function as it was designed.
5. Instead of focusing on the fact that you are not called to do what someone else is celebrate the fact that God saw to it that someone in the Body of Christ was gifted to do it and that you are gifted to do what you are assigned to! This will help you focus on your assignment, while supporting the assignments of others.
Father, thank You once again for giving me a unique calling and gifting. I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am unique throughout all of history and I am very thankful for who You have made me to be. My understanding of my uniqueness and of the specificity of my assignment frees me to be ME! I don’t have to be jealous of anyone else. I understand that I need others and others need me. I don’t have what they have and they don’t have what I have. I declare, by faith, that in 2010 I will focus on being the best ME that I can be, so that I can fulfill my role in the Body of Christ. I will also support others as they seek to fulfill theirs. Together we can all make a difference. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
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