| For God did not give us a spirit of timidity … |
| —from 2 Timothy 1:7 |
Have you ever done a self-assessment to determine the key qualities that make you who you are? I was fortunate that, as a double-major in Psychology and Writing at Houghton University in the mid-1960s, I had a most excellent professor who had previously spent many years in the Veterans Administration Hospital System. He insisted that Psychology majors take a wide variety of psychological instruments, participate in group therapy sessions, and learn as much about themselves as possible.
I learned early on that, though I had high intelligence, I had a very low self-esteem coupled with a strong level of perfectionism. I also learned that my painfully extreme social awkwardness came from the way my very low self-esteem and strong level of perfectionism had shaped the way I perceived other people, related to them, and the way I processed the information I receive when I am in a social setting.
I have always admired other people who seem to get along in life much more smoothly than I do. I am also keenly aware that God has gifted me in other areas of life that, in some ways, help me compensate for my extreme social awkwardness.
Now, imagine for a moment that, in His divine love for us, God sets out three qualities He desires to give to us, His dearly loved children. We actually don’t need to imagine this, because God does have three such wonderful qualities that the Apostle Paul has described, as found in 2 Timothy 1:7:
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
A spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of self-discipline are all sterling qualities that God strongly desires to give to each of His dearly loved children. They come to us through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They are given to us to enable us to serve God, as His ambassadors to this troubled and needy present world.
As this new day begins, let’s praise and thank God for these three great gifts. Then, let’s determine to use them to spread the good news of who God is and what He longs to do for each person who may cross the pathway of our lives. In so doing, we will find these qualities growing within us, just as Paul was urging his son-in-the-faith, Timothy, to experience these qualities growing within him.
