I just can’t wait to be king. Those are the words of a character in one of my favorite movies- The Lion King. Simba understood early on that he was destined to lead his lion pride. When he uttered those words he was only a young lion cub, however he knew that he possessed an enormous amount of potential that would one day enable him to rule the jungle. In my last post I mentioned that success is executing your purpose. Today I want to share something else about being successful. Success is also maximizing your potential. God not only gives us a purpose, but He also gives us the potential to complete it. What is potential you may say? I'm glad you asked! Potential can be defined as untapped possibility, unmet capability and unused power. In other words, it is all you can do but have not yet done. The good news is that God not only gives us an assignment but He also gives us the ability to accomplish our assignment, which is called potential. Within each and every one of us is a powerful amount of potential just waiting to be used.
Sadly, many individuals never tap into this potential and end up taking it with them to their grave. That's why it's said that the richest place on Earth is the graveyard, for there lies so much untapped potential. However, as you read the Gospels you find Jesus over and over again maximizing his potential by serving and giving. It's vital to first believe that you have the potential or ability to do something great. My dad always tells a story about this young boy and his dad who were out playing basketball. Despite the fact that the boy was much taller than his dad, the dad would always jump higher than the son. Day after day the dad would encourage the son to jump higher only to hear the son reply, "I'm jumping as high as I can!" The boy would never jump any higher than about 3-4 feet. However one day, as they were both walking in a fenced in pasture, suddenly a bull came out of nowhere and began charging. They both began to run for the fence but there was a problem, the fence was at least six feet tall. While running the dad looked at the boy and said, "Son I love you, but the only way out is to jump over the fence." To his amazement the son not only jumped over the fence, out jumping him, but cleared it with room to spare. Afterward the son replied, "Dad, I guess I didn't know what I had inside of me!” My question for you today is, “Do you really know what you are capable of?” I want to encourage you to begin to use all of your God-given potential.
Now, you also need to know that the opposite of maximizing your potential is called mediocrity, or settling for average. That’s exactly what Simba did as he dealt with the devastating death of his father. After leaving his pride for a period of time, he found himself kicking it with Timon and Pumbaa, chomping on grubs, and singing Hakuna Matata (no worries). Can you see Simba on the youtube screen of your imagination as he is not living up to his potential? However, one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when he sees his father, Mufassa’s face, in the clouds and hears him say, “You are more than what you have become!” From that moment, Simba remembered who he was and began to maximize his potential until he eventually became the Lion King. The truth is, as long as we are living, there is more for us to accomplish. We can never park in the area of our potential and think that we have arrived because all of life is a No Parking Zone!
Do you still wanna be successful? If so, achieve it God’s way by executing your purpose and maximizing your potential!
PEACE!
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