God gave me this thought several years ago, and it’s a great periodic reminder: What I accomplish in my own intellect and talent, is only a small fraction of what I can accomplish with God as the center of my life.
Think about this: A 10-year-old boy has the capacity to build a Lego castle and impress his 10-year-old friends. He may even spend his entire life creating more complex Lego castles and capture the amazement of more 10-year olds; however, at some point he will realize that Lego castles aren’t particularly useful, except to be admired by fellow Lego enthusiasts. As he ages, he will have the capacity to create something much more complex than a Lego castle; but—he needs to realize that he will never live to his full potential playing with toys. This boy will only become capable of building beyond what he understood as a child if—he disciplines himself in years of instruction by architects and engineers.
We as Christians need to check ourselves and see if we’ve moved beyond our Legos in our walk with God. The Bible says:
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (I Corinthians 13:11)
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-14)
God has created us to grow and do great, wonderful, and eternal things. But this will never happen if we’re content to play Christian by giving God our leftover time and resources. Did anyone become a great architect by being lackadaisical? Being a representative of God is far more rewarding than building structures that will eventually end in ruin.
We must be hungry for God.
Sometimes I have to ASK God to increase my desire for Him—because it wanes. God has given us the knowledge of His ways in His Word, and the power of His Spirit to teach us to walk by faith in Him. Just like we want our children to grow up and do great things, God WANTS to enable us to do far beyond what we ask or imagine. When we begin to live the impossible dream (that is, the one that is impossible without God)—we live in amazement and wonder.
Our accomplishments with God are so much greater than our accomplishments without Him. It’s time to grow up and grow into the greatness God created for us!