“You can do something no one else can do in a fashion no one else can do it.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2011-05-02) from his book, Cure for the Common Life (p. 19). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Earlier Max said something that seems to contradict this.  He said, “You cannot be anything you want to be.”

He says, “Secular thinking, as a whole, doesn’t buy this. Secular society sees no author behind the book, no architect behind the house, no purpose behind or beyond life. Society sees no bag and certainly never urges you to unpack one. It simply says, ‘You can be anything you want to be.’ Be a butcher if you want to, a sales rep if you like. Be an ambassador if you really care. You can be anything you want to be. If you work hard enough. But can you? If God didn’t pack within you the meat sense of a butcher, the people skills of a salesperson, or the world vision of an ambassador, can you be one? An unhappy, dissatisfied one perhaps. But a fulfilled one? No. Can an acorn become a rose, a whale fly like a bird, or lead become gold? Absolutely not. You cannot be anything you want to be.”

He continues, “But you can be everything God wants you to be.  God never prefabs or mass-produces people. No slapdash shaping. ‘I make all things new,’ he declares (Rev. 21:5). He didn’t hand you your granddad’s bag or your aunt’s life; he personally and deliberately packed you. When you live out of the bag God gave, you discover an uncommon joy.”

Leading up to the above thought, Max says, “’Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants’ (Eph. 5:17 MSG). You can do something no one else can do in a fashion no one else can do it. Exploring and extracting your uniqueness excites you, honors God, and expands his kingdom. So ‘make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that’ (Gal. 6:4 MSG).”

Max says, “Use your uniqueness (what you do) to make a big deal out of God (why you do it) every day of your life (where you do it). At the convergence of all three, you’ll find the cure for the common life: your sweet spot.” 

So would you start your exploration today?