We are right in the middle of Baseball season and it won’t take you long to find a game if you look around for glowing lights on any given night. From the Pee wees to the Pros, there are also guys sitting on the bench, just waiting for a chance to get in the game and prove themselves. They may be filled with a variety of thoughts as well, from ‘when am I going to get a chance – I’m better than half the guys out there’ to ‘I hope I don’t mess up when I get a chance to show what I can do.’ All that raw or underdeveloped talent just sitting there wasting away on the bench…what is the coach thinking…what would it take to put those guys in the game? Have you ever felt underutilized? That you were made for something more than what you are doing now and maybe you should be given a chance to prove yourself?
Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor. Proverbs 29:23
We have all probably been there at some time or other. I remember my first year playing baseball, basketball, or my first part time job when I was nervous and excited to show what I could do all at the same time. What about other areas where you feel you may some underdeveloped talent, yet haven’t had a chance to explore these possibilities, how will you ever know? If you never take an opportunity to write, to preach, to pray, to serve, to create a unique work, or any other thing, how will you ever know what possibilities lie within you? Theodore Roosevelt was a man with varied interests and talents who had many successes and failures in life, yet kept going. Even Emily Dickinson who is considered one of the most important American Poets of the 19th century had fewer than 12 of her 1,800 poems published while she was alive, yet she kept on writing. At what point would you give up? What do you think Moses was thinking after about 35 years of living on the run in the wilderness? He may have thought that was it for the rest of his life, but God had other plans. What other plans do you think God has for you yet?
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:11-12
If you find yourself sitting on the bench in some area of your life for longer than you think necessary, consider why you feel this way. If you think your talents are not used to the best they can be, are you at least putting them out there a little, so that you can employ them to a degree, even if not to the full extent possible? Or are you holding back, as a new, entitled graduate, waiting for the perfect job before accepting anything? Or maybe the issue is that you are not recognized fully for your talents, to the extent you think you deserve. Your own pride gets in the way of being fully utilized to the degree possible. Maybe this current time or place is just not fitting to where you are best able to serve. There may be a variety of barriers keeping you from using the best of your talents or abilities, or keeping you from producing any fruit in your life at all. Take those questions to the Lord, and he may not always give you the answer you want, but almost always it will be the answer you need. Don’t be discouraged, but serve Him and others as best you are able and you will be a blessing to many, even if it does not make the headlines!
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
Be Bold in Christ,
Clark
