Today John Ortberg discusses the first two ways recognizing and going through open doors reveals and requires us to face the truth about ourselves (Chapter 7, All the Places to Go).
1. What are my strengths and weaknesses? We have to have some sense of our strengths, weaknesses, and interests if we’re going to understand which doors God is likely to set before us. Marcus Buckingham, however, points out that our strengths aren’t simply what we’re good at and that our weaknesses aren’t simply what we’re bad at. Marcus defines a weakness as something that drains you of energy and “something you’ve been blessed with lots of ability to do well but cursed with no appetite for it.”
John concludes that it’s better to acknowledge walking through a wrong door than spend the rest of your life in the wrong room.
2. What is driving me? We must come face-to-face with the truth about our motivations and ambitions. Yet, Pastor Ortberg notes, if we wait to walk through a door until our motives are pure, we’ll never go through any doors. Our drive to go through God’s open doors reveals to us a mixture of desire to serve the Lord and a desire to feed our own ego. John writes about the necessity of confronting the truth:
“The truth about me is I don’t even want to know the truth about me. The truth about me is only God knows the truth about me. The truth about the truth is if I face the truth about me with Jesus, the truth will hurt me. In fact, it will kill me. But then, it will bring me life.”
Today’s question: How does Marcus Buckingham’s clarification of strengths and weaknesses help you revision your calling? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation, “Till the sky spills over”
