Five and a Half Questions Everyone Must Answer预览

Question 1: What are your strengths?

“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10 (NKJV)

One of my favorite scriptures is Luke 12:48, which says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben said it this way, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Both are saying the same thing, and both are providing a powerful warning as well.

In the movie Spiderman, Peter Parker was bitten by a very unique spider which led to him experiencing a torturous night, during which his body was radically changed down to the DNA level. The following morning Peter realized something strange had happened to him. He no longer required glasses to see, and shredded arms and body muscles replaced what was before a most unimpressive physique. The next few days would be the best of his life as he begins to discover other new and exciting powers he possesses. He also began to grasp the amazing truth that his quiet and unremarkable life has been profoundly changed - forever.

Many of the households in America know the name of the character, Peter Parker. His legacy is forever immortalized within the Marvel comic universe. Although his story is pure fantasy, there is much to be learned from young Peter. Here we see a young man whose life was radically changed – as different as night is from the day! He had noticeable new strengths and was beginning to see that he barely knew the full depth of those strengths. Throughout the rest of the movie, we see him better understand his strengths and what they could do to benefit others. He began to develop each of his newly found powers; superhuman strength, web slinging, super senses, Spidey grip, as well as others and aligned them to serve his fellow man. Peter Parker was made for greatness. What about you? Did you know that you were created for greatness as well? Yes, YOU!

You see, identifying your God-given strengths and putting them to work for God’s glory is the start of your greatness journey. Keep foremost in your thought process, that the greatness you were created for has everything to do with living out God’s purpose for your life, thereby glorifying Him – which is our “why”! This is a process with a lot of bumps along the way. 1 Peter 5:10 tells us that after the suffering comes strengthening, perfecting, establishing, and settling. Be encouraged that the trials don’t define you but mold you. The pain of his tortuous transition night didn’t define Peter Parker, but rather illuminated who he would become. From there the rest was up to him to be willing to search out his strengths AND put them into action. Have you searched out what your strengths are? Once you begin the journey, remember well that a stern warning applies to you – and us us all - that “with great power comes great responsibility”. Start your journey today to identify your strengths and much like the popular comic hero Spiderman, determine to use them for good! Yes – for the sake of God’s Glory - use them!