I hear that. Maybe you do too. It has a sister. I could do that. Or any kind of iteration of the idea that if a person does something, they could have too.
I think this is an outgrowth of the American Idol show on TV. People think that when they see someone accomplish some feat, they think to themselves, "I could do that".
I ran into that comment this week while at the Trade Show. I was rolling out a greater exposure to the valuation consulting I do professionally. This is a time when that may be needed.
Most people I talked with were gracious and received it well.
A couple people were also doing some of this kind of work on an ad hoc basis. I have taken the time to become credentialed and recognized over the last 10 years.
One man I spoke with acted exactly as I suspected he might. A man I know. When I handed him the information, he said, "I could do that". Now to be fair, he probably has the background to do that. BUT, he didn't. HE DOESN'T.
I had a friend once who used to say, "Talk is cheap, it takes money to buy whisky".
It was his way of saying, I could do that, is an empty phrase if you don't do that.
It's always that way, if you make any effort to put yourself out there to accomplish anything, someone will say they could have done it too.
This has to do with the prophetic as well. People who do not understand the gift of the Prophetic or the office of the Prophet will say, "I could prophesy, all people can". OK, I'm there. You go ahead. Prophesy. Tell us what the Lord is saying. We'll do our part, we will judge your Prophesy. That's the scriptural thing to do.
Most people who despise prophesy and who think that it's just a lot of empty words don't have the courage to step out and put themselves subject to ridicule as Prophets who really DO prophesy. I know about ridicule. "I could do that" is cowardice and ineffectiveness. To those who would say "I could do that" I say to you, no you couldn't or you would. You don't so you can't.
That's why I have great respect for those who have the ministry gifts of the Apostle, Pastor and Evangelist. I want them to succeed. I can't do that. I don't want to even pretend. I am a good Prophet and Teacher. I will stay doing that until God calls me to something else.
So to the people who say "I could do that". Pardon me if I purposely ignore you.
Prophets Prophesy, Otherwise keep silent. You can't do that if you don't.
The person who will not read is as illiterate as the one who can't. The parallel holds.
1 comment:
"Mr. Obama won the primaries and then the White House with a campaign based on the gauzy promise of change more than on a clear agenda."
First, it wouldn't hurt to jump the gun a bit and refer to him as President Obama.
Second, anyone who can claim he has not platform, no solid ideas, no plans, simply has not been paying attention. This is a cheap way of discrediting him that would take me pages to argue. It is not true. He has been working hard on problems since he first started running, getting more solid ideas as time goes on. He deserves credit for that and not this general dissing.
Third, you make like these are things you have written yourself by starting out the blog post with the text of the article. You should state clearly up front first thing that it is someone else's work and not in a tiny reference at the bottom. You do this again and again and again and it is irritating.
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