Realizing Potential

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renew al of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 (ESV) It just sits there. There’s an old 1964 Mercury “Shorty” school bus behind my dad’s place that’s been sitting there since 1976 when one of my brothers blew the motor on it. It’s a sweet little three-window bus that I sometimes wonder what it would take to fi x up, rebuild, restore, and customize . . . it would sure turn heads as it chugged down Main Street! The problem is that it’s just “potential.” It’s just a thought of “what could be.” It may happen someday, or maybe it will just sit there and rust til it’s deemed as scrap iron. It kind of reminds me of us as people. God gave each of us a certain amount of potential — things that we are capable of, things that we could be, ways that God could use us, ways that we could maximize what we have going for us right now, ways to become what we are designed to be. The problem is that it’s just “potential” until we start to let God have his rebuilding, restoring, re-creating hand in our lives. It’s only then that we begin to see the new person that God can morph us into. It’s only then that our potential can translate to reality. — Kene Jackson   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org