Kingdom Chat Week #22: Covet The Best Gifts – Finding your winning piece
But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. 1Corinthians 12:31
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 1Corinthians 9:24
We are almost concluding the fist half of the year and it is a good time to refine and re-energize for the rest of the year. Life is like a marketplace and every choice or decision we make is a transaction in time (an investment) that buys us the commodity we call a future. This future could be a profitable one or a deficit. This future could be the next minute or next ten years but will definitely come. It could come in form of money, children, spouses, relationships, jobs, business opportunities, favors received, academic success or any other achievement or progress in life. It also may oftentimes be in the negative, depending on the quality of choices or seeds we had sowed.
How do we make the best choices? Apostle Paul told the Corinthians that there is a more excellent way to do things. I know he talked about love in this case but I will use his letter to Timothy in 1Timothy 4:15 to drive home my point: Meditate on these things give yourself completely to them and your progress will be evident to all. That is the secret of excellence.
We can draw a few lessons from that scripture passage:
1. Refuse to have a negative fixed mindset about your ability to succeed – Do not let anyone despise your youth or inexperience. Do not despise yourself too. Every successful thing began with the first small step. You can never know how much more you can do until you make the choice to do it anyway. Refuse to settle for less or mediocrity. Be humble enough to take corrections without letting it lower your mentality or morale. Don’t let failures define your character. God wants you to get the best out of your life.
2. Set your desire on the best things– Develop a personal drive or passion to get better at what you do. Constantly set higher but achievable standards for yourself, look for better ideas, research more efficient ways of fulfilling a task. This does not imply being greedy, covetous or envious competition to outsmart or con others.
3. Dive in. Be passionate, give in your best in the little you are given to do. Do not treat your academics, job, business, family, marriage, relationship or any endeavor with contempt or levity. “Don’t let motivational speakers” or competition make you leave your current post prematurely. Hone your skills taking advantage of the opportunities where you are. Develop endurance. He that is faithful in little is faithful in much.
4. Be alert and ready to launch out into new God given opportunities and your profiting will be evident to all.
I look forward to a better and more excellent version of you!
- 2 Replies
@michael great points you noted in this discussion. I think that the point about staying in your place if assignment until you hone your skills is crucial. I was reading this week about too many soccer athletics who left their club prematurely because of large offers made to them by other clubs and they ended up becoming total failures because they made the leap prematurely.
This is where patience comes in. That a road is unfurling before you doesn’t mean you should go. But we must all learn to hear the voice of God and seek his counsel in every pivotal moment of our lives. And the truth is that, it can be very tricky hence the need for divine counsel and submission to coaches or mentors that God has placed around us. Their voices will matter in such moments. Do you have accountability people in your life?
Thank you@phil4krist for expanding further. I couldn’t agree more. The example in the footballing or soccer world makes it clearer. We need to covet divine counsel through the word of God and also from mature coaches or mentor.
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