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by Kevin Pauley
Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment. – Ecclesiastes 11:9 HCSB
A little boy dreamed of flying. He ran around the yard with a balsa wood model plane held high above his head as he imitated the sounds of the propellers. As he grew up, he worked for hours building model planes with pre-cast plastic pieces and modeling glue, carefully painting them with various logos. At first the colors were garish – flames flowing down the sides of the fuselage; toothy grins on the nose of the plane. After a while though, they began to reflect real planes more and more. He ventured into building small scale functioning engines and then on to remote control planes.
No one else in his family flew planes. Very few had graduated from high school much less college and flight school! This was not a mere genetic predisposition; an inherited trait from his ancestors. This was a direct gift from Yahweh Asah, God his Maker.
What a tragedy it would have been if this gifted young man would have stuffed Yahweh’s gift and simply followed the easiest path of conformity. If he had followed the example of many in his family and been satisfied with a minimal education and a minimum wage job that didn’t challenge him or ignite his passions, he would have spent the rest of his life as a smaller, stunted soul.
Yahweh Asah makes each of us with a goal in mind. He takes our genes, our inherited traits, our upbringing and experiences, our temperament, character and spiritual gifts and cooks up a dynamic human being. Each of us is unique. Each is beautiful regardless of the packaging. We are worth knowing if for no other reason than that getting to know another human gives you a little more insight into the Maker.
The Buddhist saying “Shiken haramitsu daikomyo” offers the expectancy that with every encounter with another human comes the possibility of further enlightenment. The Bible echoes that sentiment saying, “The spirit of man is a candle, searching all the innermost parts.”[1] A prophet who recognizes and hones his spiritual gift gives others greater insight into the word and will of the Lord. A teacher who meditates daily on how best to enhance her skills to the glory of the Lord expands our minds and stretches our horizons.
Each of us should determine how God has hardwired us. We need to analyze our temperament, spiritual gifts, experiences and inherited traits so that we can better determine what God wants us to do. When we do this, when we follow our heart’s ways, we will not only do great things for God, we will find joy on the way.
[1] Proverbs 20:27 NASB
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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