The World’s Strongest Guy
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” - I Peter 4:10
BIG BRENT
My oldest son, Wally, had a rather unique teammate named Brent on his high school track team. Brent was stocky and measured in at 5’ 10”. When I first met him, I was not overly impressed. He just looked like another beefy football player—until he began to compete in the shot-put and the discus.
I remember well the first time I saw Brent throw the discus. He threw it so far that it sailed out of the arena and landed on the back stretch of the track. Everyone was astonished. Another time I watched as he got ready to throw the shot-put. When he let it loose, two spectators who had been lounging beyond the end of the field jumped up, grabbed their chairs and scattered. He had heaved the shot-put so far that it landed at their feet for a new state record!
One day his coaches decided to put on an exhibition at lunch time. They brought out weights from a local gym. While the entire school watched, Brent bench-pressed the world record for that year in high school athletics—over 500 pounds. His coaches thought he could set a new all-time world record, but they didn’t want to strain him because a meet was scheduled that Friday.
THE HURDLE OF PRIDE
How would you feel if you were the strongest guy in the world? How would you ladies feel if you were the most beautiful girl in the world? Would you be arrogant? God gives us instructions in His Word about how to handle success and the number one issue to avoid is becoming proud.
Jeremiah 9:23, 24 is part of a parade of verses where God instructs us to avoid pride like a plague. “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me…” Why does God say to avoid pride? It’s for several really good reasons.
Many people are prideful because they are big fish in a small fish bowl. You may know people at your school who are exceptional in athletics and know it. They are prideful because of their little success, but on a national scale, their success is not great at all. Their boasting comes from ignorance.
Brent was excellent even compared to the best young men in the world. Yet God tells him, “Mighty man, do not boast in your strength.” God tells us rather to boast in Him, not because God is prideful, but because He knows it draws us out of being consumed with ourselves and brings us into the freedom of loving Him and loving others.
AVOID “ME ABSORBED IN ME”
Pride is “me absorbed with me” and that is the opposite of love. Love is me thinking about and caring for others.
When a person is prideful, his thoughts circle about himself. When we love, thoughts are focused outward towards others.
God tells us not to be prideful. But what if you are the best in the world like Brent was?
How can you possibly not feel superior? God has an amazing answer in I Corinthians 4:7. “What do you have that you have not received (from God)?”
BIG BRAINS?
“How about our brains?” Glad you asked. ☺
God planned out our innate mental abilities. I once had a friend who had an unbelievable memory. We took some college classes together. I remember asking her often, “What is the answer to that question?” Time after time, she’d tell me the location of what I wanted to know.
For example, I might ask her something about the alveoli in the lungs. “Oh, it’s on page 46 at the bottom,” she’d say.
Do you know how she did it? She told me she could see the pages in her mind and just read the page number at the bottom! Good grief. I had trouble remembering what the book looked like!
No amount of practice can create a memory like that. Either you’re born with it, or you’re not. How about Brent? Sure, he worked out. He worked hard. But what if he was built like me? Good luck! That shot-put would never sail out of the arena. He’d be lucky if it didn’t land on his foot—even if he worked out all day long, seven days a week! All abilities in any area have their roots in talents that are gifts from God.
GOOD LOOKS?
The same holds true for good looks. If you’re stunningly gorgeous or hugely handsome, what did you have to do with it? Did you think real hard to get your beautiful eyes? Of course not. If you meditated all day long or worked hard for a lifetime, you couldn’t even change one of your eye lashes. What would you do without your nose? Your ears? Your hair? Suddenly beautiful and handsome would become real ugly.
All beauty is a gift from God. All we do is comb it or put make-up on it. All the raw materials are a gift. Imagine if God didn’t give you lips. How beautiful or handsome would you be then?
GOT EXTRAS? USE THEM RIGHT!
Has God gifted you with extra strength, beauty or intelligence? Has He given you a special gift? Realize that it is for His own good purposes. You are to glorify the God who made you and serve others with your talents. That is what will give you true purpose in life.
Don’t seek to feed your ego by excelling. It is completely worthless in the sight of eternity. Instead, seek God for understanding about how you can turn your gifts into His blessing for others. Don’t get a big head about using your talents for God either.
Realize God gives many different gifts and He gives at least one to everyone, so all of us can experience the joy of being useful and appreciated (see I Peter 4:10). Pride is a completely anti-God state of mind. It is 100 percent selfish. Seek love. You’ll be far happier if you do.
Finally, if you want to be blessed in life, don’t waste a moment groaning that you don’t have certain gifts. God is in charge of what we don’t have as well as what we do have. He limits us in areas so He might guide us in directions He knows will make us happiest and most effective in life. I don’t have Brent’s muscles, and I don’t have my friend’s memory, but I can love people and listen to them. I can trust God and watch Him work in my life. I find great joy in discovering and being who God made me to be.
God will make you a wonderful blessing to others, if you’ll let Him. Shake off superiority. Dump inferiority—and remember to rejoice in God. Rejoice that you’re alive. Rejoice in who He has made you. Seek Him to change you into the person He desires you to be (Philippians 1:6). That’s where true greatness lies.
Those who seek God are especially aware of inner character. (Psalms 16:3). Be one who seeks God’s inner beauty for yourself, and be one who loves it in others. Stop regarding people according to their superficial attributes. Seek instead to see people’s hearts and you’ll be able to love and help them as God would want you to.
There’s not greater purpose in life than that!
"Let your adornment be...the hidden person of the heart." - 1 Peter 3:4
When our focus is being the fragrance—love and care—of Christ to others we enter a freedom from the need of having our outer “shell” be just right.
Don Miller
"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” - 1 Corinthians 12:18
You are exactly what God wanted for you for this life. In Heaven all your external attributes and your abilities will be far greater than the best on earth now. The important things is to learn from God is why He made you the way He did as a person in whom He can reveal His glory.
Don Miller