No Such Thing as Average: How Does the Greatness in the Universe Speak to the Greatness in You?

Recently, my daughter’s teacher sent home her NWEA math score. This is an assessment all elementary school students in Illinois (and many other states) take to determine their ability level. We gauge how she is doing in school against the average score of all other kindergartners (yeah, kindergarten!) in the country who also take this assessment. It starts in kindergarten, but it doesn’t end there. Next will come selective high schools, the SAT, college admissions, acquiring a lucrative job with a competitive salary, promotions at work, and round and round we go. Our society is so entrenched in this dichotomy of average and great that we so often fail to see God’s best in us, which often has the effect of making us feel inferior.

Anatole France said, “The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.” France is essentially arguing that the average man does very little with the life he has been gifted. Rather than seizing opportunities and relentlessly pursuing our purpose, so many of us simply fantasize of an alternative life. In essence, we become complacent. Complacency is the enemy of greatness. The purpose for which you were designed doesn’t in and of itself make you great. Your understanding of your necessity on this planet and your willingness to maximize your God-given potential are what make you great. The fact that there is only one you already excludes you from the realm of typical. However, you will need to mobilize what’s inside of you. Immobility will cause you to remain average. Studies actually show that sitting literally shortens your life span. So let this be a call for all of us to get up so that we can get ahead both individually and collectively. You were meant to do something and be active in the completion of an assignment.

King David wrote, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet”(Psalm 8:4-6). Does that sound like the résumé of an average person? The thing to remember is that this passage is a part of the résumé of every member of the human race. We all have within us the power to have dominion in a location or a vocation. Glory and honor are not average qualities. They are attributes that we ascribe to those who are unique or extraordinary and those attributes have been applied to you and I.

Without a relationship with the one who made you unique it will be difficult, if not impossible, to understand or tap into the greatness that lies inside of you. Many scientific discoveries that point to God as the creator of the universe confirm and illuminate His greatness. The discoveries of the great galaxy seeds and the radiation afterglow in the early universe proved that the expansion of the universe was precisely tweaked to cause just enough matter to congregate to allow galaxy formation but not enough to cause the universe to collapse back on itself. Additionally, the discoveries laid to rest any suggestion that the universe is in an eternal steady state. It pointed to the fact that there must be an uncaused, first cause. This shows greatness, planning, power, precision and purpose.

A great God who has the power to create greatness would not decide to put anything less than greatness in you or I. Average components are not a part of His toolbox. Just like in the creation of the universe, His design of each of us contained all of the elements of planning, power, precision and purpose that are so characteristic of who He is and how He is. This means that your purpose necessitated your birth. There is nothing average about you. The quickest way to go from average to exceptional is through a change in mentality. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7a). Thoughts precipitate action. Therefore, average thoughts produce average people who in turn produce average results.

Many of us have a desire to do more or be more. However, sometimes we struggle with how to get there, but most people agree that “there” is the destination they should be seeking. “There” is wherever your impact and influence are most apparent and most necessary. If you are trying to reach the fulfillment of your purpose and you are wondering how to get from average to exceptional, seek out the problem that you can help solve. In life, we are most often remembered for one of two things: the problems we create or the problems we solve. Therefore, be the answer to someone’s problem today and watch your life take a turn from average to exceptional. Pray, plan and prepare and look inward to know what you need to express outward for the betterment of the world and those in it.

Most people end up being average because they don’t know why they’re exceptional.

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