Question and Answer
I have a young friend who talks of many areas of service she wants to pursue, but she has never settled down to achieve any of them. She has so much potential—how can I encourage her to move forward?
I taught speech and English classes for many years—not full time, but just enough to realize how rewarding it can be. I often would say to a student, “You have potential!” To me, it was a term of encouragement. But then a student told me that he heard from someone else: “If Kellogg says you have potential, it is the kiss of death.” When I said, “You have potential!”, my student was hearing, “You aren’t good enough to be capable of speaking in public.”
Telling someone that they have potential, therefore, is not always an encouraging boost. Better to remind your friend that God has given her gifts and interests, and she should seek the wise counsel of others and the leading of the Spirit to determine what she should pursue (1 Cor. 14:1). If she does indeed have potential and she isn’t developing it by putting in some effort, then she is hiding her light under a bushel instead of bringing glory to God (Luke 8:16).
BY Mike Kellogg
Mike Kellogg worked with Moody Radio for more than 40 years, beginning in 1972. For many years he was the reader on Continued Story and began hosting Music Thru the Night in 1982. He also read the Today in the Word devotional for Moody Radio for many years. In July 2014, Mike retired from full-time radio. He is a graduate of Cedarville University, and has served as adjunct faculty in English and Speech Communications at Moody Bible Institute. He is married to Nancy, and they have 6 children and 16 grandchildren.