Dare 2 Share - The teacher asked her class what each wanted to become when they grew up. A chorus of responses came from all over the room:
"A football player," said Jim.
"A doctor," said Alfred.
"An astronaut," said Suzy.
"The president," said little Al. (Everyone laughed).
"A fireman," said Fred.
"A teacher," said Lisa.
"A race car driver." said Mario.
Everyone that is, except Tommy.
The teacher noticed he was sitting there quiet and still. So she said to him, "Tommy, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Possible." Tommy replied.
"Possible?" asked the teacher.
"Yes," Tommy said. "My mom is always telling me I'm impossible. So when I get to be big, I want to be possible."
So...what do you want to be when you grow up? Not in the physical sense. What I mean is spiritual. When you start to get ‘older’ as far as your walk with Christ, what do you want to be?
I think a lot of us are like little Tommy. We would like to have big dreams of what God could accomplish in and through us, but there seems to be someone or something in our lives that tell us it’s impossible.
Maybe it’s a friend or family member who feels a little ‘uncomfortable’ with your Christianity. To them, you are going through a temporary stage that will soon pass. Your counter cultural values and constant habit of attending church are getting in the way of them feeling good about their godless lifestyle.
Did you know that Jesus Himself faced opposition from his family? Check this out:
As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you." (Matthew 12:46-47 NLT)
This probably wasn’t a case where they wanted to know what He wanted for dinner later on. I believe that they were embarrassed by His sudden change from a carpenter to a preacher, so they kinda wanted Him to chill on the challenges to the crowds.
In other words, they were saying: “impossible”, but Jesus wanted to be “possible”.
Or perhaps it’s a lack of belief on your part. It’s always other people who do great things for God, not you.
If that’s your attitude, I would say: good job! The people who were used the greatest by God in the Bible were the least likely heroes of all time. None of them, I repeat, none of them thought that they were on God’s A list for accomplishing great things for the Kingdom. So they never dreamed big dreams of what they wanted to be when they grew up, because everything around them was shouting “impossible”. So they gave up…that is until God came along and said “I want to use you” to Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, and so on.
This week I would challenge you to simply present yourself as ‘possible’ to the King of Kings. The Apostle Paul wasn’t kidding around when he said:
“And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.” (Philippians 1:6)
God desperately wants to use you right where you are. When you wake up each morning, ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and use you to advance His Kingdom…then get ready for quite a ride!
There may be others who are always telling you that you’re impossible, but Jesus said:
"What is impossible from a human perspective is possible with God." (Luke 18:27)
Questions:
1) Do you believe God wants to use you? Why or why not?
2) What is standing in the way of you feeling “possible”?
3) Are you willing to ask God to use you each and every day? Why or why not?
