‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ Romans 8:31 NKJV

In his family’s eyes, David would never be more than a shepherd (see 1 Samuel 16:11-12). But in God’s eyes, he was Israel’s next king.

It’s amazing how people categorize us the moment we’re born. Somebody says you ‘look exactly like so-and-so’, or convinces you that you’re ‘just an average student’, or a ‘plain Jane’. And before you know it, you end up believing their assessments and opinions.

Evidently some people considered Timothy too young to be a leader. That’s why Paul wrote and told him, ‘Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young’ (1 Timothy 4:12 NIV).

Our list of other people’s perceived shortcomings can be harsh and unforgiving. It includes things like being poor, uneducated, physically or mentally challenged, or ethnically different. It even takes into account the foolish mistakes they made years ago.

Ask yourself, would you like to be measured with that yardstick? Didn’t think so! When Adam Clarke, one of England’s most prolific eighteenth-century preachers, was young, his father told Adam’s teacher he didn’t think his son would do well in school. The teacher replied, ‘He looks very bright to me.’ Adam heard those words – and they changed his life by letting him out of the box his father put him in. Clarke lived to be 72, became a famous Methodist minister, and gave the world one of its greatest Bible commentaries.

So get rid of your labels and life-limiting thoughts, and start dreaming. ‘What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us’ (Romans 8:31 NKJV). When God is in your corner, you can rise to the top like cream!