Archive for the Potential Category

Temporarily Displaced

Posted in Displaced, Potential on January 18, 2011 by johncbain

Many people that I know, including myself, have become temporarily displaced…forced to make changes in our careers due to things often times outside of our control.  While challenging, I have found this to be a tremendous time of personal growth and thought that I would share some of my insights.

  • Life is comprised of seasons with transitions between seasons.  If you have become temporarily displaced, don’t loose perspective that it is temporary.  There is another season to be shaped during the transition time.

  • Transition times are a unique opportunity to re-purpose, redefine and reengage. Challenge yourself to not be confined or defined by your previous experiences.  If God has been calling you to something and you have been running from it, now may be the time to launch out into your God-given dreams and potential.

  • Take time for reflection and evaluation.  Today is the day for you to embrace your calling.  I found three incredible resources that helped me gain focus and clarity on what the next season of life for me would look like:  Chazown – Craig Groeschel, Wild Goose Chase – Mark Batterson, and Sun Stand Still – Steven Furtick

  • This quote form St. Ignatius of Loyola has been a driving principle for me during this transition – “Pray as if it all depends upon God, for it does.  But work as if it all depends upon us, for it does.”

  • Believe.  If you are a follower of Christ, then you have the same power that raised Jesus from the grave available to you.  God will provide, and he will use this transition to shape you more and more into the person he wants you to be.

For those who this hits home directly with, the temporarily displace, I am praying for you today.  Hang in there!

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>Multiplication of Talents

Posted in Gifts, Potential on December 5, 2010 by johncbain

>My world has been rocked as God began to challenge me with the question, “Are you multiplying the talents that I have given you to make the most significant impact for me that you can?”

Jesus once told a story about a master of an estate who was leaving for an extended trip.  The master called in three of his servants and gave them each a delegation of responsibility according to each one’s ability.  To the first servant he gave five talents.  To the second, he gave two talents, and to the third he gave one.  Now talents in this time where a form of currency, but the application of this for me was taking the word talent literally to mean talents or God-given gifts and abilities.

So the master left and the man with the five talents and the man with the two talents went out and multiplied their talents…to be exact, they doubled them.  Now the man with the single one took a different approach and went out and buried his talent.

After a long time, the master returned and called in his servants in to settle up with them.  The two men who had doubled their talents showed the master how they had used his investment.  The master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  From now on be my partner.”  The man with the single talent that had buried it then came to reconcile with the master.  He said, “Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error.  I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your talent.”  Furiously, the master replied, “That’s a terrible way to live!  It’s criminal to live cautiously like that.  If you knew that I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?  Take you talent and give it to the one who risked the most.  And get rid of this ‘play-it-safe’ who won’t go out on a limb.  Throw him out into utter darkness.”

Here is how this story transformed my thoughts:

  • Each person receives talents in proportion to their own personal ability.  To some God gives five, to others two and to others one.
  • Regardless of the talents God blesses you with, he is entrusting you with his property.
  • We are expected not only to use our talents but to multiply their effect through utilizing the same power that raised Christ from the grave that is available to each one of us.
  • How you use your talents is directly connected to the most important thought you will ever think.  That is the thought you have when you think about God….refer to how the man with the single talent viewed the master.
  • There is accountability for not using and multiplying the talents God has blessed you with.
  • There is a great promise…utilizing our talents enacts the free gift that we have in a relationship with Jesus.  We become partners in reconciling the world to Jesus.
  • If you want to experience all the God has for your life, you have to take risks.

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