Ordinary or Extraordinary
We had about 400 children in the pre-school at Frazer Methodist Church. On Friday mornings, they had chapel and would invite me. They would often sing a song that has a great message:
You are a promise!
You are a possibility!
You are a promise with a capital “P”!
You are a great big bundle of potentiality!
And if you’ll listen, you’ll hear God’s voice;
And if you’re trying, He’ll help you make the right choice
You’re a promise to be anything He wants you to be!
You can go anywhere that He wants you to go,
You can be anything that He wants you to be,
You can climb the high mountain,
You can cross the wide sea,
You’re a great big promise you see!
We have a great opportunity to encourage other people, especially children and young people, to allow God to help them reach their potential. God always puts people in our path to whom we can make a difference with our encouragement. Every person has potential, but sometimes it takes other people to bring out that potential.
I love the story of John Mark in the Book of Acts. Paul carried him on his first missionary journey. John Mark didn’t expect the harsh conditions. I think he was expecting it to be more like he had at his mother’s house. The conditions were tough. John Mark made a decision to leave the rest of the group and go home. (Acts 13:13)
Later, Paul and Barnabas were getting ready to take their second missionary journey. Barnabas suggested that they take John Mark with them. Paul insisted that he wasn’t going down that road again. John Mark had made a mistake, and Paul was not going to take him.
The disagreement became so great between Barnabas and Paul that Barnabas suggested that he take John Mark with him, and he and Paul went in two different directions. (Acts 15:37-39)
It’s tough for me to say that the Apostle Paul made a mistake, but he did in his relationship with John Mark, because he was a great asset to God’s kingdom as he ministered with Barnabas. Barnabas was an encourager. He brought out the potential in John Mark.
In the latter part of Paul’s life, he was asking for certain things to give him comfort and encouragement. He recognized that he had made a mistake with John Mark, and he requested that John Mark come see him and minister both to him and with him! (II Timothy 4:11)
John Mark had immense potential. He was a real promise. Barnabas brought that out in him. Be a Barnabas today! Check out who wrote the second book of the New Testament!
You can look at people and be critical and fail to see their potential, or you can look at people as God sees them and discover the unbelievable potential in every person. Looking through human glasses, you see people who appear to be less than ordinary. Looking through God’s glasses, you see extraordinary people with potentiality with a capital P!
What do you see?
