Great potential can come out of nowhere, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Christmas narrative. Jesus is the greatest and most impacting Man to have ever walked the face of this planet, because He was God that came as man as stated in John one and Philippians two. Jesus, who fulfilled all that God sent Him to do, had a very obscure birth. He was born in the tiny village of Bethlehem to parents of no great influence at all and in the feeding trough of animals in a stable. None of these scream of potential for success.

Even in the life of Christ, we see a Man that was rejected by those in prominence, power, and prestige. However, He did not let any of these hindrances or obstacles keep Him from doing what He came to do. None of us will have the same impact in making a difference through our lives on earth, because we are not the “only begotten Son of God;” however, we can all reach the potential of what God placed us here to accomplish for His glory.

Every person is created in God’s image for the purpose of bearing His image here on earth. Every believer has been made new in Christ to enable us to bear God’s image on earth more effectively and accurately through His love and righteousness working in us and through us. We have been given potential within us to make a difference while we are here on earth.

The sad reality is that many people take far too much of that potential with them into the grave. The impact and difference their life could have made was not met because they let something keep them from achieving that potential. For some, their greatest hindrance is themselves and their own lack of willingness to put forth the effort and work necessary to achieve the success they could have in life. For others, it may be allowing  adverse events or people that have hurt or discouraged them, to hold them back from reaching the potential they could have experienced through their life.

God has called us all to make a difference through our life. He has gifted us all with the potential to make that difference, but it is up to us to raise up and overcome hindrances putting forth the effort with God’s help to make the difference He designed us to make.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.—John 14:12