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| Getting Motivated series |


* What’s Our Motivation?
* What if I’m Not the Best?
* What If I Don’t Succeed? (Fear of Failure)
* How Does God Define Success?







When we’re considering whether we should do something, whether we should work hard at it, the first question that often enters our mind is this: “Will I be any good at it?” To consider that question, we’ll look at the people who are the best at it and make the honest assessment: “I’ll never be as good as them”. To make matters worse (forgive my honesty) there’s a good chance we’re right.



Before I started writing for Loving Theology, I looked at all the Christian speakers and writers who were incredibly gifted and successful and came to the very accurate conclusion that I would never be that good.



Here’s what’s happening: Because of the way we consider the question, we aren’t just asking if we will be any good at it; we’re really asking if we will be the best at it. We trick ourselves into thinking we won’t be any good at it because we know we won’t be the best at it. There’s no more sure way to kill any motivation than this line of thinking. But what, specifically, is wrong with it? Does the Bible give us a better way to think about it?



Is God Calling Me?



I had this idea in my mind (and I suspect I’m not alone) that because I wasn’t going to be the best at it, I probably hadn’t found what God was calling me to do. I felt there was some niche calling for me out there that God had uniquely gifted me to be the best at if I could just find it. While we might not all acknowledge it in those words, I think this thought affects all of us, making it difficult to feel confident in what God has called us to.



This line of thinking led me to a conclusion: Since I’m not going to be the best, I probably haven’t found my calling and I need to keep searching. God corrected me for the pride in my heart that was underlying this way of thinking. It’s uncomfortable to admit, but He showed me that my own delusions of grandeur were holding me back from embracing His calling because it was more modest than what I had built up in my mind.



The Parable of the Talents



When God first corrected me in this way of thinking, He brought me to the Parable of the Talents which is found in Matthew 25. It starts like this:



“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.