Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John Maxwell Read Free Book Online Page B

potential for greatness first of all have to see themselves as they are, and usually that’s discouraging. When Paul saw that he had been persecuting Christians, when he saw that he had been thwarting the plan of God, when he saw that he had been buying into the wrong religion, no doubt he was discouraged. Remember when Isaiah had a vision of God? It stopped him. He began to see himself, and his first comment was, “Woe is me” (Isa. 6:5). In effect he was saying, “Wow! I’m in trouble. I’m not what I should be; I’m not what God wants me to become.”
    When we have a vision from God and it stops us, we not only see our position, but thankfully, we also see our potential. We see our possibilities. The good news is that God believes in you, and he will not allow you to see yourself and your problems without allowing you to see your potential. He’s not going to frustrate us; he’s going to encourage us and help us see what we can become. Isaiah went from “Woe is me” to “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa. 6:8).
    Five things happened to Isaiah. He saw God, and when he saw God, he saw a holy God. That took him aback. When we see the holiness of God, we see our own uncleanliness. Second, he saw himself, and he saw that just as God was holy and perfect, he was needy and imperfect. Then he saw others; he looked at the multitudes around him. He saw God, he saw himself, he saw others, and then he allowed God to change him. At that point one of the seraphim picked up the coal from the altar and placed it on Isaiah’s tongue. God took him through a purification process. Fifth, Isaiah began to stretch. He began to say, “OK, God, allow me to be a part of this dream. Allow me to reach out and be what you want me to become.”
    The value of a vision is that it encourages you to give up at any moment all that you are in order to receive all that you can become. In other words, once you’ve had a glimpse of what God can make of you, you’ll never be satisfied with what you now are. You will be willing to let go of whatever might keep you from actually realizing that vision. You can probably think of times in your life when this happened to you. Do you remember when you first fell in love with the person you married? All of a sudden other members of the opposite sex were not that interesting to you anymore. You were willing to trade in the pool for the one.
    I have found that you do one of two things in life. You either pay the price now and enjoy later, or you enjoy now and pay the price later. But you will always pay the price. I’m constantly amazed at the shortsightedness of people who are not willing to pay the price now. Some people are shortsighted about their bodies. They’re not willing to give up those pleasurable things that are destroying their bodies now in order to gain a few good years later. Some people are shortsighted about their finances. They can’t give up any of today’s luxuries in exchange for tomorrow’s financial security. And some people are shortsighted spiritually. They are so caught up in the pleasures of today that they can’t see the pain of tomorrow: They’re not willing to totally sell out for God. They’re trying to avoid the price, but the price will always be there. You can either pay it today and enjoy life tomorrow, or you can enjoy life today and pay the price, plus interest, tomorrow. You cannot avoid the price.
    I have always been very goal conscious. For that reason, even though Margaret and I had been dating since high school, I decided we would not get married until I graduated from college. While I waited through four years of college, I watched a number of my friends marry during their sophomore and junior years. You can guess what happened to many of them: Grades fell, financial hard times hit, and discouragement set it. Even so, they were encouraging me to go ahead and get married. But I remember thinking, You guys weren’t willing to pay the price. I’ll set my goals