No Copies, Only Originals

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:13-16

A children’s song we used to sing went something like this:
You are a promise –
You are a possibility.
You are a promise –
With a capital “P”
You are a great big bundle of Potentiality…

And it is true because we are – each of us – uniquely created by God.
There is no one else quite like you.
So don’t get stuck trying to be like somebody else or everybody else.
When you do that you shortchange what God created you to be.
I have to admit though; it is sometimes easier to be a copy and not an original.
A copy doesn’t have the sweat equity investment in life that an original does. Someone else pays the price and we come along trying to reap the benefits of their labors. There is one problem with that. After God created you, unlike anyone else in all of creation, He kept the blueprint imprinted on His heart.
He has a ‘permanent record’ of what His plans were for you.
Copy-cats cheat only themselves by robbing their very own potential in God.
Remember our children’s song? While it may be “cutesy” it is also quite true. There is so much potential that is maximized in each of our lives when we discover and live up to God’s unique plans for each of us. Consider this: One of the measures of value we place on objects of art is often tied to their rarity. The more common, the less value; the rarer something is the greater its value to us. That is true with our lives as well. No one else can live out God’s purposes for you like you! Don’t diminish the value of God’s creation by living your life as a copy of someone else’s purposes.