The Key To Reaching Our God-Given Potential

The first thing that happened after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden was that their self perception became completely distorted. They thought that they no longer were acceptable to God so they hid themselves. They tried to make themselves look more acceptable to God with leaf coverings made by their own hands.

In reality, their sin hadn't caused God to love them any less. In fact, when evening came God came for His daily walk with Adam just as He had always done. Adam's sin didn't change God. It changed Adam.

From that day forward, mankind would be doomed to feelings of inadequacy and obsessed with an imagined need that he needs to do something by his own power to make himself acceptable to God. From a leaf-sweater in the garden then to business proposals in the boardroom today, man has been trying to prove something. He has been trying to prove his worth as a human.

The message of Easter is that Jesus Christ has drawn us into Himself and settled the issue of our worth once and for all. You were in Christ on the cross and everything about you that would have debilitated you in terms of reaching the potential God intends for you was done away with there. You were buried with Him and on the third day, you arose with Him - full of resurrection life. Now the essence of who you are is Him.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? The key to reaching our God-given potential is to see that Jesus Christ gives us our identity. "In Him we live and move and exist," says the Scripture. We have nothing to prove. The only thing we need to do is to just be ourselves and as we do we will mature outwardly into the person we already are inwardly.

We have the spiritual DNA of Jesus, having become a partaker of His divine nature. (See 2 Peter 1:3-4) We don't have to sweat missing the plan that God has for us. Instead, we can know for certainty that as we "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," the destiny our Father has determined for us will manifest, with no struggle on our part.

Paul wrote, "For me to live is Christ." That's true for you too. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. He is your life. Don't worry about making things happen. Just trust Him to be who He is in you and the divine plan will unfold. You aren't a domesticated house cat. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is your life. See that truth when you look at yourself and you'll find yourself increasingly acting more and more like it's true.