Let me ask you a question: Who are you? Think about it. Your face and features, your voice, your abilities and various other character traits. Your background, your manner of expression, everything about you is found only in one individual—YOU!
Search all the world and throughout all history and you will never find anyone quite like you. You are unique and that was not an accident. God planned it that way. God made each one of you totally unique and when He finished, He threw away the mold.
Listen to David’s perspective on it: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." (Psalm 139:13-16; NKJV)
Now read those same verses from the Living Bible: "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" (Psalm 139:13-16; TLB)
If I read this correctly, you were made by God. He fashioned you just as He wanted before you were even born! Then He presented you to the world just as He had made you. You are exactly who God wanted you to be. And don’t miss the point that God is personally involved in the very days and details of your life. You are important to Him.
Yet sometimes, we are not quite sure we are who God truly wants us to be. We look at ourselves and we look at others around us, and we just don’t seem to quite measure up. Others are more popular, better known. On the football field or basketball court someone else scores the points and gets the glory. You look at yourself, and maybe you are pretty good too, but you always find yourself in a supporting role. As a result you begin to think of yourself as a nobody.
If you are tempted to think about yourself in this way, remember this: In college football, it seems that the great quarterback or the great running back always wins the Heisman Trophy. Yet, none of them could accomplish what they did without the linemen blocking well or the receivers making great catches. There is a whole supporting cast of "nobodies," without whom they could not win the trophy.
Let me tell you something. It is the same in all areas of life. For every great basketball player, there is someone making the pass or setting the screen at just the right time to let them score. Likewise, the presidential election is just behind us. For every politician who was elected Governor, or Senator, or President, there were hundreds and thousands of people working hard behind the scenes without whom they could not win. It is all of those people that nobody sees who are the whole reason for success.
Let me quote another Scripture from the Living Bible: "some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary… So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important" (1 Cor. 12:22, 24; TLB).
When I was in seminary, I played intramural football. This was a graduate school, so everyone had already finished college. The quarterback on my team had played college football at Stanford. He had been the backup to Jim Plunkett (a Heisman Trophy winner; now I am dating myself again). That’s who Steve Murray trained under. Steve was a pretty good quarterback in his own right. I was a wide receiver and we ran timing routes. I would run my route, turn, and the ball was right there. I never saw Steve actually release the ball.
One game I ran a flag pattern (that is out toward the corner of the end zone, where the flags are) and Steve threw it to the post (that is inside toward the goalpost). Couldn’t have been my mistake! I turned and realized the ball was thrown several yards away toward the middle of the field. Somehow I managed to spin around and come in between two defenders who were about to intercept the pass. I came up from behind and caught the ball right out of their hands and backed into the end zone.
Upon returning to the huddle I said, "Nice throw, Steve." Steve just looked at me and said, "Yeah right. You just made me look good." You see, Steve understood that, as great as he always looked as a quarterback, he was only as good as his line blocked and his receivers caught. Sometimes he made bad passes, but his receivers would come through and make him look good. So he gladly gave thanks where thanks was due.
If it weren't for the "nobodies," we wouldn’t have top-notch leaders in the nation or in the church. If it weren't for this supporting cast of "nobodies," we wouldn’t have victories and championships. Most of you may not be those who stand out and become great. Yet, all of you are great in the eyes of God because you are just as God intended you to be, and He has made you that way for a great purpose—His purpose. He made you and He wants you to follow Him and let Him use you according to His plan.
Let me close with one last Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10. You have probably heard verses 8-9, but verse 10 completes the thought in the same context. Here are verses 8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." And here is verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Psalm 139 tells us that God made you just as He wanted before you were ever born. He gave you the personality and abilities He wanted you to have. That is completed when you receive Jesus as your Savior and trust your life to Him. Then He adds gifts to your life that you will need to serve Him. He has even designed certain things for you to accomplish within His purpose to further His kingdom. You just need to rely on Him and look to Him each day for guidance, and He will use you.
Remember, there is only one you because that is how God wanted it. You are important to Him, that is why He designed you even before you were born. Be yourself and follow God daily, and He will use you in great ways. Amen.
Search all the world and throughout all history and you will never find anyone quite like you. You are unique and that was not an accident. God planned it that way. God made each one of you totally unique and when He finished, He threw away the mold.
Listen to David’s perspective on it: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." (Psalm 139:13-16; NKJV)
Now read those same verses from the Living Bible: "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" (Psalm 139:13-16; TLB)
If I read this correctly, you were made by God. He fashioned you just as He wanted before you were even born! Then He presented you to the world just as He had made you. You are exactly who God wanted you to be. And don’t miss the point that God is personally involved in the very days and details of your life. You are important to Him.
Yet sometimes, we are not quite sure we are who God truly wants us to be. We look at ourselves and we look at others around us, and we just don’t seem to quite measure up. Others are more popular, better known. On the football field or basketball court someone else scores the points and gets the glory. You look at yourself, and maybe you are pretty good too, but you always find yourself in a supporting role. As a result you begin to think of yourself as a nobody.
If you are tempted to think about yourself in this way, remember this: In college football, it seems that the great quarterback or the great running back always wins the Heisman Trophy. Yet, none of them could accomplish what they did without the linemen blocking well or the receivers making great catches. There is a whole supporting cast of "nobodies," without whom they could not win the trophy.
Let me tell you something. It is the same in all areas of life. For every great basketball player, there is someone making the pass or setting the screen at just the right time to let them score. Likewise, the presidential election is just behind us. For every politician who was elected Governor, or Senator, or President, there were hundreds and thousands of people working hard behind the scenes without whom they could not win. It is all of those people that nobody sees who are the whole reason for success.
Let me quote another Scripture from the Living Bible: "some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary… So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important" (1 Cor. 12:22, 24; TLB).
When I was in seminary, I played intramural football. This was a graduate school, so everyone had already finished college. The quarterback on my team had played college football at Stanford. He had been the backup to Jim Plunkett (a Heisman Trophy winner; now I am dating myself again). That’s who Steve Murray trained under. Steve was a pretty good quarterback in his own right. I was a wide receiver and we ran timing routes. I would run my route, turn, and the ball was right there. I never saw Steve actually release the ball.
One game I ran a flag pattern (that is out toward the corner of the end zone, where the flags are) and Steve threw it to the post (that is inside toward the goalpost). Couldn’t have been my mistake! I turned and realized the ball was thrown several yards away toward the middle of the field. Somehow I managed to spin around and come in between two defenders who were about to intercept the pass. I came up from behind and caught the ball right out of their hands and backed into the end zone.
Upon returning to the huddle I said, "Nice throw, Steve." Steve just looked at me and said, "Yeah right. You just made me look good." You see, Steve understood that, as great as he always looked as a quarterback, he was only as good as his line blocked and his receivers caught. Sometimes he made bad passes, but his receivers would come through and make him look good. So he gladly gave thanks where thanks was due.
If it weren't for the "nobodies," we wouldn’t have top-notch leaders in the nation or in the church. If it weren't for this supporting cast of "nobodies," we wouldn’t have victories and championships. Most of you may not be those who stand out and become great. Yet, all of you are great in the eyes of God because you are just as God intended you to be, and He has made you that way for a great purpose—His purpose. He made you and He wants you to follow Him and let Him use you according to His plan.
Let me close with one last Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10. You have probably heard verses 8-9, but verse 10 completes the thought in the same context. Here are verses 8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." And here is verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Psalm 139 tells us that God made you just as He wanted before you were ever born. He gave you the personality and abilities He wanted you to have. That is completed when you receive Jesus as your Savior and trust your life to Him. Then He adds gifts to your life that you will need to serve Him. He has even designed certain things for you to accomplish within His purpose to further His kingdom. You just need to rely on Him and look to Him each day for guidance, and He will use you.
Remember, there is only one you because that is how God wanted it. You are important to Him, that is why He designed you even before you were born. Be yourself and follow God daily, and He will use you in great ways. Amen.
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