I Feel Inadequate By Pete BriscoeSampel

Everyone (else) is great

Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will. —A. W. Tozer

When was the last time you were asked to engage in something beyond your skill set? Home maintenance maybe? Perhaps your spouse asked you to hang a towel bar in the bathroom on a Saturday morning, which led to the discovery of a leaking shower pan, a rotted subfloor, and mold. And now you’re standing in a pile of rubble thinking: I just wanted a place to hang up my towel.

When was the last time God asked you to do something beyond your skill set? A yes answer would usher you into a role that felt way over your head.

I was a 22-year-old youth pastor when some parents asked me for advice regarding their rebellious teen. I was only four and a half years older than their kid, and I felt completely unqualified.

I had this same feeling when, as a senior pastor, I sat with a guy who’d neglected his wife for so long that she finally left him. He asked me what to do, but I wasn’t certain I could help.

And again, I felt this way a few years later when I realized I’d neglected my own wife to a degree, and now I needed to grow in this area. I didn’t know where to start.

The common feeling in all of these scenarios is the feeling of inadequacy. Inadequacy tells us our limited resources limit our contribution.

This has been a pattern taught to us since childhood. We learn there are great people who do great things, and there are average people who do average things And finally, a much larger group of below-average people who do below-average things.

Youth sports are a prime example of this. Great kids get tons of playing time, average kids fill the gaps and serve as subs, and below-average kids warm the bench. Corporations are another example: great people climb the ladder, average people hover in the same position, and below-average people face layoffs.

But here’s what I need you to know: believing that our limitations limit our contributions is a worldly mindset. This mind-set has no place in the understanding of Jesus and what He wants to do with us and through us.

Jesus, I’d love to be free of this performance-driven mind-set. Free me from my limitations this week as I learn what it means to trust You. Amen.