You actually can

I started taking some kickboxing classes last week, AKA "torture classes." There is one instructor in particular who is very, very difficult. I'd say she was my friend but I've come to doubt the validity of our friendship after the brutality this woman puts me through! Ahh well she actually is my friend, and she does push us, extremely hard, but it's good as it causes me to do things I have never been able to do.

So the other day Lily (my 4 year old) & I were talking about Miss Nina and how tough she is; I was telling her how she always encourages us, telling us "you can do it!" To which Lily said, "She's actually right, you CAN do it. You never give up."

The way Lily so emphatically said that was great! She said it as if to say, "duh mom, of course you can do it, because you never should give up." In her little four year old mind, it's common sense, you don't give up. It's not optional. You just keep going.

I read this morning in Matthew such an encouraging scripture: Matthew 25:21 says, "His Lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord."

This is the passage of scripture that describes what each individual did with the talents they were given by their Master, this referring to money but I liken it to the gifts God has given us. I love how the Bible says in Matthew 25:15, "To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability."

"Each according to his ability." Hmmm. "Each according to his ability." One more time, "each according to his ability."

When I look back over my life, (mind you I just realized I'm actually a year younger than I thought I was, so I have an extra year to live now!) and I focus on the years that I've been a Christian, about 21 years now, it's interesting to look at the "talents" God has given me along the way. First of all, 21 years? Wow. Thank you Lord for saving me as a teenager.

Second, God gave me talents? Yes. And He has given them to you as well. That's a bizarre thing to process isn't it? I never, ever look at myself as talented. I consider myself average, always have been. I've never been one to think gee, I've got skills. Because I don't. Although I can bust a pretty good groove...in my head. And I can make up random songs about random things, preferably to 80's tunes. But I digress.

Average. In the middle. Not a cut above, not upper class, not in the higher bracket, not necessarily below, but not above. Hmm. Some of the words that are used to define the word "average" are, "medium, mediocre & ordinary."

Gosh. When you look at it like that, it sure is a stark contrast to what God say's about us, isn't it? The Bible tells me that I am "more than a conquerer." That means I'm not only winning the battle, but I'm taking spoils with me. More. God tells me that "I will be the head and not the tail, above and not beneath." Then of course we know that we "are fearfully and wonderfully made, that God's works are marvelous."

Me, marvelous? Above? The Head? More than a conqueror? Nah, not me. Not this little girl that grew up in a horrible environment, poor, abused & shamed. Surely God is not referring to me. Surely He is speaking to everyone else right? Because this little girl from the ghetto is lucky to even be average. I deserve far less.

How about you? Is that how you feel too? I'd venture to say that many of us do indeed feel that way. Because if we didn't, if we really grasped the intensity of God's call on our lives, if we truly knew that He indeed has "clothed us with strength and dignity," if we really, really, really could comprehend that every scripture in God's Holy word is actually for us little old average folks, then my goodness friends we would be taking up the talents that God has given to us, and we would run this race set before us; we would have the confidence that caused Lily to say, "Of course you can do it,YOU NEVER GIVE UP!"

I'm not average. And neither are you. Anyone that calls themselves a son or a daughter of the King of Kings has no room for mediocrity. Our blood is too strong for that, our inheritance too rich. The same power that flowed through Jesus is the same power that flows through us. Jesus was anything BUT average.

I don't know about you, but I can picture Jesus, kneeling down to pick me up from my self-proclaimed average position, slowly lifting me up until our eyes met - imagine that for a moment. Looking into the eyes of your Master. The one that knows everything about you, the good, the bad and the ugly. He knows it. He knows your doubt, He knows your anger, He knows your thoughts, He knows your actions. He knows it. He knows the environment you were raised in, He knows the struggles that you faced, He knows the hills you had to climb and He knows the valleys you have sat in. He knows it. And regardless of it all, He bids you to come. And when you come to Him, He cleans you up, He restores those things that have been taken from you, He puts all kinds of goodness into ya, and then He does something that he certainly does not have to do, He gives you talents.

Jesus has given each and every one of us talents. What are yours today? And we're not talking "America's got Talent," or something. Not a gift that the world views as a talent, although sometimes that is the case and God certainly uses that. But I'm referring to that thing that God has gifted YOU to do. It's unique to YOU. Tailor made for YOU. And whatever it is, it will draw people to the Lord. Cuz that's how we do...

Like the scripture in Matthew said, good and faithful "servant." When you love Jesus, you will use your talents to serve. When Jesus consumes every part of you, those gifts just keep on flowing from you, often un-awares. When He is your all and all, you say like Lily, "You actually can do it..you never give up."

You actually can. You actually can...