There are two kinds of potential everyone has that goes unseen … 1.) UN-REALIZED Potential. 2.) UN-UTILIZED potential.
A baby crawls across a cold, hard floor. He is at the age where he could begin to walk, yet continues to crawl. The potential is there, but is it UN-REALIZED or UN-UTILIZED? If the child has never seen other children standing up and walking, he might assume that he was destined to a life of crawling … this would result in UN-REALIZED POTENTIAL. But, if he was in a room of other toddlers who are standing up and beginning to walk, and he realized that he had the very same equipment for standing and walking that they had, he could still choose not to walk … this would result in UN-UTILIZED POTENTIAL.
There are really only two reasons why a person would succumb to living their life with UN-UTILIZED POTENTIAL. 1) Fear of failure (the baby could fall and hurt himself), or, 2) The desire for ease and comfort (the baby may think that too much effort is required to stand up and walk.) It’s one thing to be unaware of your potential … it’s a totally different thing if you choose not to tap into your potential. Don’t continue to crawl when you know you can walk!
Thought for Today: Do I have UN-UTILIZED potential? Do I know God has given me a special talent that I’m not using because I’m afraid to release it … or, I’m afraid it will be rejected or misunderstood?
Prayer for Today: “Father, help me let go of my fears so I can release the gifts and talents you’ve put inside me. I will no longer submit to the spirit of fear that whispers in my ear, “You’re going to fail.” Help me step out of the safety of my boat so I can walk on the water to You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!”
Matthew 25:24-25
“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. ‘And I was AFRAID, and went away and hid your talent in the ground.” (from Jesus’ Parable of the Talents)
