It May As Well Be You!

I am well aware that the sound of this title may sound incredibly arrogant, but stick with me on it because there is a lesson to be learned from it.

Many people (one man said 95%) are waiting on someone else to choose them for things or to give them things. This goes for things such as a job, a promotion, financial security, a pay raise, an inheritance, etc. I propose, and have found, that one great way to ensure you get most or all of what you’re looking for in life is to choose yourself!

This will go against not only society as a whole, but the very paradigm we are all conditioned to have by people in our immediate circle all the way up to people in our society as a whole. There is a part of us that likes to study, learn, and talk of doing BIG THINGS, but when it comes time to actually DO the big things, it pulls us back to “safety” because, as the thought goes, “You can’t do THAT. You have to wait to be invited or included before you can do that! Who do you think you are?”.

When we say It May As Well Be You, we do not mean you should go around trying to be the hero and win all the battles or that you should usurp authority or in any way try to take over, but rather to rise above the human nature way of doing things; the status quo thinking of waiting on someone else to give you something or do something for you.

This could be something as big as advancement to another rank or position of responsibility or something as simple as looking up an answer on Google. Look it up yourself instead of hinting that you’d like to know that fact and hoping someone will just give it to you.

Someone once typed a question on Facebook looking for someone to give them the answer, and someone asked them “You could type it into Facebook, but couldn’t type it into Google?”.

Misunderstood Ambition

The idea of “If there’s going to be a blessing or an opportunity offered, or a door opened, it may as well be me who gets it or who walks through that door” will not set well with a lot of people, especially those who wish and want but won’t work to make themselves ready and therefore qualified for it. Again, most people just want things given to them.

It is a good idea to prepare yourself for the possibility of great opportunities to be offered to you. That’s actually what this whole lesson is about! But, simply waiting and hoping for it to be offered is very limiting in itself and is what most people do. “Status quo’ers” do this. They would tell you to basically “Fall in line and wait your turn!” or “It sure looks like you’re really trying to be some great one!”.

My question would be, “What’s wrong with trying to do as much as we can and become the best we can? Why aren’t more people attempting to do that?”.

You should expect this kind of treatment though because it’s in human nature to push back against, or flat out reject, anything that is done differently than how we would do it. There’s no shortage of people who talk about doing big things until it’s being attempted. All you can really do is stay faithful and follow your vision all the way through. Be consistent and let it prove itself out in due time.

Acknowledging Your Growth and Progress

The ancient Hebrew King David said the following statement Psalms 119:99-100  I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.  (100)  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. If someone had heard David say this out loud, could you imagine the repercussions? “What!? What an arrogant jerk David is! Doesn’t he know you can’t learn or know more than what your elders and teachers currently know?” or whatever else the ill-informed could have said to him, I’m sure they would have! Let’s take a closer look at what David could have meant by this; something I think is closer to what he did mean by these statements.

Do we really think that David was just out there talking about, “Can’t nobody tell me anything. I’m even smarter than those who taught me!” If you know the life of King David you’d have to say, “Probably not!”. So, what’s this business of knowing more than his teachers and knowing more than his elders?? I think it is every true teacher’s desire that their students go on beyond them in learning and understanding of things. Not acting like a know-it-all, but using that teacher’s experience and teaching as a springboard for higher and better things.

Actually, if this process is not taking place, then every business, church, and military group would basically be in this circular pattern of “reinventing the wheel” and nothing new would ever be discovered or done. A teacher can hand their student decades of experience and teach it to them within a few months or years. Would it be wise for the teacher to basically say “Now, don’t learn anything other than what I’ve taught you because that’s all there is to know”? Of course not! Would it be wise for the student to say, “I’m not going to learn anything else because my teacher knows all there is to know”. No, that would not be wise either! That would be more like hero-worship.

David had gained insights from the discoveries he had made while learning new things, starting with the foundation he was given by his teachers and the elders.

At this point in his life, he realized he could acknowledge that he had indeed learned some new things that those before him had not thought of. I have members of my church who bring things to my attention from the Bible that I have never thought of, and I’ve been through Bible seminary and they haven’t. We all bring different perspectives to the environment and the moment we limit ourselves to a narrow spectrum of sources is the day we start limiting our potential and development.

So…It May As Well Be You!

I know that right from the start the title of this lesson sounded arrogant, and honestly it was meant to sound that way. But, we hope that by now you’ve understood that confidence and arrogance are not always the same thing. There will always be people waiting on “their turn”, but it’s those who “get out of the pile” as Peter Drucker once said, and learn to develop themselves and raise some dust in the world that usually live the most fulfilling lives and see more gratifying things accomplished in their lives than those who wish, want, and whine.