The deception of being whatever YOU want to be...

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.(Romans 12;1-14)
I do a lot of thinking throughout the day.  Often times, that thinking leads to prayer and searching scripture.  I had a thought today that was one of the basic truths taught to me in child hood, "You can be anything that you want to be...".  I thought about this long and hard today and came to the conclusion that this is a tremendous lie.  While it sounds like a good message to teach to children to give them hope, Romans 12 points to a different life.  We are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, we are not to be conformed to this world, we are to seek and do the will of God...that is "what is good and acceptable and perfect.".  We should not be thinking of ourselves alone, but rather taking stock, honest stock, of what we are good at and where we need help.  Once we honestly asses ourselves, then we seek others who will compliment our weaknesses and who our strengths will be magnified all for the glory of God.  When we do this, our imperfections become means of which others can help us and our strengths become ways for us to help others grow and experience God's unifying love first hand.  Some of us wish we had certain gifts, while others of us deny that we have certain gifts at all.  In either of these situations, STOP, assess your self honestly and seek to glorify God with what He has given you.  Let us together be fervent in the spirit, serve the Lord, Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and CONSTANT in prayer.  When we all contribute to the body, we all benefit, and the biggest benefit of all is that the world witnesses first hand Love, unconditional, complimentary, clean, and unconditional.  We should not aspire, or teach our children to aspire, to be whatever they want...we should aspire, and teach our children to aspire to be what God created them to be.  Let us/them be prophets, servants, teachers, exhorters, generous, leaders, worshippers, etc...let none of us/them be conformed to this world, rather let we be conformed to that which God wants us to be.  Amen!