The speaker at Kairos tonight asked a very good and pertinent question: are you trying to wear Saul’s armor?

Let me backtrack a bit to explain. In 1 Samuel 17, Israel is about to face the Philistines in battle. Their main guy, Saul, challenges any Israelite to face him in single-handed combat, with the losing side becoming servants to the winning side.

David, a young shepherd who is there delivering supplies to his brothers, steps up to the challenge, even though he is only a youth. He is convicted in  his heart that no one should taunt the people of God.

Saul, the king of Israel, tries to get David to wear his armor. But the problem is that it doesn’t fit. David isn’t used to it and can’t do what he’s good at in it– slinging stones with a sling shot.

David ends up facing the giant armed only with 5 stones and a slingshot– and supreme confidence that God will deliver him.

So are you wearing Saul’s armor? Are you encumbered by somebody else’s expectations of you? Are you so busy trying to be somebody else that you’ve forgotten how to be yourself?

God made you to be you and only you being you can fulfill the purposes God has for you. It starts with you being faithful in the little things long before you face your Goliath.

God has wired you a certain way and equipped you with a unique blend of gifts and talents and desires so that you can fulfill the part in God’s plan that no one else but you can do.

Don’t ever let anyone else tell you that you don’t matter or that you have nothing to offer. God made you unique and one of a kind for a work that he’s called you to do. He looks at you and says that you’re his masterpiece.

My prayer for you is that you would find joy in being the best you possible. That you would find your place in God’s advancing kingdom and help others find theirs as well.