(UN)QUALIFIED

It’s true that we should probably try to become “qualified” if we’re going to be flying a plane or performing open-heart surgery.

 

But sometimes we limit ourselves by defining our identity as one (or a handful of) adjective/noun.

 

We can’t limit our entire identity by just saying that we’re shy, or an engineer, or a daughter. 

 

Like Shrek, we have many layers if we try to define ourselves as “I am ___”.

 

Unlike most graded exams, there are many correct answers for the third word.

 

What third words do we jump to for identifying ourselves, vs how would God identify us?

 

The fact that we’re unqualified shows God’s grace for loving us anyways.

 

We need to see full picture:

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• Don’t say you’re a failure; say you’re growing!

• Don’t say you’re unworthy; say you’re accepted!

 

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It would be such a waste to get through life without using gifts that God gave us.

 

“Maybe you’ve heard Jesus’s parable about the talents (Matthew 25). By the way, a talent in Hebrew society was a measure of weight, equaling, about seventy-five pounds. In this story it symbolizes all our God-given resources -- time, money, energy, abilities, and, yes, talents. // In the parable a rich man went away on a long trip and left his estate in the hands of several employees. He gave five talents of gold or silver -- imagine five gunnysacks full of bullion of coins -- to one person, two talents to another, and one to another. // The employees who received the five talents and the two talents both worked hard, used their resources, and doubled the money. The other guy took a ‘safer’ approach. He dug a hole and buried his talent in the ground. // When the boss returned, he was impressed with the first two men and dismayed by the actions of the last man. // When he asked the third employee why he buried the money, the man’s answer was simple: ‘I was afraid’ (verse 25). // Sometimes we do the same thing. We let fear force us into hiding who we are and what we’ve been given. We bury our identities because we are afraid we don’t measure up. We are scared that if we let the real us show, we won’t be good enough. We will mess things up. We won’t qualify. // So we refuse to use the gifts God has given us. We decline to become the people God made us to be. And to top it off, we congratulate ourselves on being responsible, humble, and wise. // But deep inside, it’s simply fear. // This is not a personality thing, by the way. I’m not saying you need to be more of an extrovert or buy a Harley. I’m saying you need to value who you are, and you need to invest yourself in the world around you” (50-51).

 

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Comparison is good if it is under control.

 

A sense of wanting to win makes races and other athletic competitions fun.

 

However, comparison can become deadly if you base your self-worth on winning.

 

Think of Lance Armstrong. He was so desperate to win a cycling tournament at any cost that he cheated with drugs. After cheating a couple times, he sank deeper into his lie by feeling pressured to keep up his perfect image. Eventually, he felt the need to come clean, and all the achievements he won got stripped away.

 

Any achievement we gain that are not for the glory of God will also be stripped away on Judgement Day.

 

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It’s important to set goals, but make sure you’re setting good goals.

 

“I was talking to a mom whose kids have all left home. She told me…, ‘I look back at my parenting, and I see that I often had the wrong goals… For example, why did I think the biggest goal of day-to-day life was to have a clean carpet? For the twenty-plus years I had kids in the house, I always kept the carpet clean. I fussed at the kids over the carpet, and everyone took off their shoes because of the carpet. Now I’d love to see more traffic and more mud and more apple juice on the carpet. I reached the goal, but the goal wasn’t the most important goal.’ // When I was in high school, there was a guy whose goal was to have sex with as many girls as he could. It sounded like a good idea to him in high school. People told him he was the man. He was in control. He was smooth and popular and successful. // I saw him at my ten-year high school reunion. // He’s already divorced, and he confessed to me his life feels empty. // He thought he was filling up, but really he was giving away pieces of himself he could never get back. He reached the goal, but reaching a goal is only as significant as the quality of the goal” (193-194).

 

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Don’t let being “unqualified” hold you back from trying to grow and make change.

 

The apostles were “unqualified” since they were just ordinary men (a fisherman, tax collector, etc.).

 

But they had the courage to try, and they did an incredible job at spreading the Word.