NLDC BACKSTAGE: APRIL 2007

Using Your Uniqueness in Service to God

You don't have to travel very far until you discover that God loves variety. Did you know he made more than 300,000 species of beetles alone? Would you call that creative overkill? Don't you think the world could have gotten along just fine with only 50,000 species of beetles? So why did he make so many? Because he loves variety.

He likes variety in people, too. Have you ever taken a second at the airport to watch the parade of peculiar people walking by you? There's proof right there that God loves variety. He made every single one of those individuals. He made you!

Psalm 139:13 (GN) says this: “You (God) created every part of me. You put me together in my mother's womb." In the Living Bible, verse 14 says: "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous." Job 10:8a (GN) says: "Your hands formed and shaped me."

From these verses, we learn that God himself intentionally made each of us who we are. The Scripture teaches three foundational truths about you:

You are unique
It's true. There's not anybody in the world like you. There never has been, and there never will be. When God made you, he broke the mold. God does not create carbon copies; he only creates originals. If you were to search the whole world, you wouldn't find two people who had the same footprint or fingerprint or voiceprint. Each person is unique. Why did God make you different from every person who's ever lived? Why did he go to all that trouble? Because he wants you to know how much you matter to him.

You are wonderfully complex
How many of you married somebody who is wonderfully complex? The fact is, each of us is so complex that many times we are a mystery to ourselves. Have you ever said something and later thought, "What was I thinking when I said that?" Have you ever felt a certain way and later thought, "Why do I feel this way? What's happening to me?" You are unique, and you're wonderfully complex.

You were shaped for a purpose!
The Bible tells us that God created everything in the world for a purpose -- and that includes you. You're not here by accident. You're not just taking up space. God made you for a reason. You were designed by God, and it was his idea to make you. It's not a mistake. The Bible clearly teaches that you were purposefully and personally planned and designed by God. His loving hand made you exactly the way you are. God had a plan in the genetic codes of your life. He didn't just throw it all together. You are you because God wanted you to be you. Your uniqueness is what God wants you to offer to the world.

God gave you unique spiritual gifts, a unique heart, unique abilities, a unique personality, and a lifetime of unique experiences so you would make your own unique difference in the world. The way you've been put together affects every area of your life -- your relationships, your career, your finances, your retirement, your enjoyment, your hobbies, and your recreation. And it absolutely affects your ministry.

Who you are is fixed, stable, enduring, and constant. As you go through different stages in life, you may have different expressions, but your shape demonstrates itself very early and continues with you for a lifetime.

The fact is you can't be anything but you. It's all you can be. There's no escaping it. If you enjoy doing something over and over, you'll repeat it. It becomes a pattern in your life. And though you may try to be like somebody else, eventually your real self will spurt through.

The next time you see a snowflake, consider this fact: There are 18 million snowflakes in a single cubic foot of snow -- and not one of them is like another. We may not be able to tell them apart, but God can. And he loves variety.

If he went through all that trouble to make unique snowflakes, why should we be surprised that he took the time to make each of us unique? I pray you use your uniqueness to impact our world.

Testimony from the Road

Our team was ministering at a small Los Angeles area church this tour when God intervened and saved a young lady’s life!

We had just finished our last sketch of the service, “Voices”, which shows a young girl dealing with suicidal thoughts. She cries out to Jesus for help and her life is saved. It is a very powerful sketch that I have seen minister to a lot of people.

This night, though, a woman came up to the altar for prayer. You could tell that the Holy Spirit was really ministering to her. None of us knew who she was or what she needed from God, but that didn’t matter. We just prayed for her and let God do the rest.

Later that night she told us that her fiancé had just broken off their engagement and she was having a very difficult time dealing with it. She began to contemplate suicide and had even picked a tree that she planned to drive her car head first into to end her life.

The neat thing about this testimony was that the tree she planned on using was on the road just past her church. As she drove down the road, she didn’t remember pulling into the church parking lot instead! For some reason, she just turned in, got out of her car, and walked into the service.

After the Holy Spirit ministered to her through the drama, it was obvious that a great healing had taken place in her heart.

I’m so glad God used us to change the outcome of this woman’s life. I just know that because of this, she will be able to make a great impact on the people around her and God will be glorified!

Josh Herndon