For many of us to thrive means to make an impact. We want to make a difference, to leave our mark, to make the world a better place. Many of us have dreams of spearheading a movement that changes the world. But most of us spend our time dreaming and hoping for the opportunity and find ourselves waiting for something amazing to happen, we get frustrated that it doesn’t seem to work out and some of us even get resentful that we aren’t getting to be a part of something great. Over my life I have seen people have a desire to make a difference but never do, because I think they fail in a critical area. I see this in young leaders and leaders who have been through the battles and are entering their later season of influence.
The problem is that some of us find ourselves accidentally in an entitled position. Either from our vast experience or our youthful energy and passion we focus on where we want to be and don’t pay attention to where we are at. Let me give an example of how this has played out. Every year we invite seniors to lead a program night and we give them months to prepare and ask them to dream and plan the night, but there are certain timelines and approval processes that need to be met. Almost every year, there are a couple of people that want to speak and they are excited about it. We put a timeline on when they need to submit a topic, rough draft, rehearsal schedule, final draft. Nearly 50% of the time students do not meet the timeline and are upset when we have to pull them from leading out in speaking for that night. We communicate with them that we are not punishing them but instead setting them up for success because we know that if they do not prepare that they have a likelihood that they will not do as well as they would want. Almost every year we have to teach students what it means to put themselves in a usable position. It is a difficult lesson for many of them(us) but it is a reminder of how I believe we can stay focused so that we can live a thriving life.
Also, if you feel overlooked and that you never get the opportunity you think you deserve, I encourage you to look through this key to make sure that you are doing what you can control to set yourself up the best. This may take a little humility but the resetting can be a game changer.
Key 9 – Put Yourself in A Usable Position
2 Tim 2:20 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.
22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.
23 Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.
How to put yourself in a usable position.
- Run from youthful lusts (v 22)
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- If we want to be in the best usable position we need to run from youthful lusts, pride, arrogance, self-promotion, entitlement. God wants to use you but He can’t use you if you aren’t in a usable heart, emotional, physical, and mental place. If you are still consumed by youthful lusts, you probably are not in a place where you can handle the bigger thing that you want. If you need proof of this, just look over the leadership landscape over the last decade and the number of leaders who have been exposed because of the youthful lusts that they were participating in below the surface. God’s mercy is that at times He doesn’t give us what we want when we are not prepared for it.
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- Pursue righteous living, love and peace (v22)
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- Not only should we run from youthful lusts, but more importantly we should pursue God and who He is. Sometimes our culture, even Christian culture, just gives us the message to abstain and run from the bad and we will be ok. This has left many people hopeless and empty because all of their energy has been focused on fleeing the bad and their tank is empty because they haven’t filled it with anything. Yet when we pursue God, focus on the good, peace, love, we have a direction, a purpose and the emotional and purpose tank is filled and we can find ourselves in a position to impact our culture.
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- Don’t get into foolish conversations (v23)
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- Since the beginning of sin, there have been foolish conversations and there is something in most of us that attracts us to them and wanting to be actively involved in them. Many times we convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing by getting involved in them, but they only lead us to frustration, anger, loss of respect, and less influence. To live a thriving life we must avoid foolish conversations that only lead to arguments and division.
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- Gently instruct people (vs 24-26)
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- Again Paul gives us a positive act to take in our lives. He encourages Timothy and us to gently instruct people, encourage them, listen to them and respond to them out of love and grace. When we invest in people with the heart of compassion versus having to be right, we will find ourselves in a position where God can use us to do great things.
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Many of us struggle to be willing to take the time and effort to put ourselves in a usable position, but if we do take the intentionality to work on putting ourselves in a usable position, I think we will find how much God can use us to do great things. Be patient. Be intentional. Take the time to do it well and you will find yourself ready to be used when the right time comes.