Extraordinary, Not An Exception
God intended us to be extraordinary, not the exception is the message of Francis Anfuso in his K-Love 1-minute of Encouragement. He goes on to say in this excerpt "that the day I see myself as extraordinary is the day I see God's true intention for my life". This message inspired me. After all, I am on this journey to see who God says I am.
As I pondered this statement, I started feeling a guilt that I was being prideful. Pride is such a common term and a deadly sin, certainly there is no doubt about the meaning...or is there? The primary definition in Merriam-Webster's is inordinate self-esteem or conceit. There is certainly a difference between conceit and confidence. Acknowledging that I am extraordinary in any way does not show my ability, it really shows God's craftsmanship. I often feel guilty about saying I am good at something, because I do not want to sound prideful. However, if I down play my abilities, is that not insulting the gifts God gave me?
I know I write well, I am a good student, and an decent public speaker. These are facts. I am not the best of the best in these areas, but I have a gift for learning new things and for articulating myself. God gave me these abilities and he has opened doors for me to cultivate them as well. I have friends that are gifted bakers and cooks...its a fact they are good what they do. It is confidence that we operate in, not conceit. Conceit would put on airs that we were the best, absolute experts in these areas and that is not the case.
What draws the line determining when pride is sinful (conceit) or based in confidence? It is a one word answer...God. If my confidence in my abilities stems from a confidence (faith) in God then I am not suffering from inordinate self-esteem. My esteem is in my Heavenly Father.
We are told in John 14:12 that we will do the same and great things than Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was not ordinary. we often act like he is the exception. We live life as if Jesus was able to do these things because he was Jesus, but HE told us we would do the same and GREATER! That is pretty extraordinary in my book. In the word of encouragement, he mentions we are not meant to be the exception. This confidence, this extraordinary life is meant for all of God's children. ALL OF THEM, without exception. So let's step into the extraordinary together, confidently with God.
After all, we have a harvest to get too and ordinary is not enough to bring it in.
As I pondered this statement, I started feeling a guilt that I was being prideful. Pride is such a common term and a deadly sin, certainly there is no doubt about the meaning...or is there? The primary definition in Merriam-Webster's is inordinate self-esteem or conceit. There is certainly a difference between conceit and confidence. Acknowledging that I am extraordinary in any way does not show my ability, it really shows God's craftsmanship. I often feel guilty about saying I am good at something, because I do not want to sound prideful. However, if I down play my abilities, is that not insulting the gifts God gave me?
I know I write well, I am a good student, and an decent public speaker. These are facts. I am not the best of the best in these areas, but I have a gift for learning new things and for articulating myself. God gave me these abilities and he has opened doors for me to cultivate them as well. I have friends that are gifted bakers and cooks...its a fact they are good what they do. It is confidence that we operate in, not conceit. Conceit would put on airs that we were the best, absolute experts in these areas and that is not the case.
What draws the line determining when pride is sinful (conceit) or based in confidence? It is a one word answer...God. If my confidence in my abilities stems from a confidence (faith) in God then I am not suffering from inordinate self-esteem. My esteem is in my Heavenly Father.
After all, we have a harvest to get too and ordinary is not enough to bring it in.
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