I’m a huge video game nerd. Some of my favorites include League of Legends, Pokémon, Monster Hunter, and Rocket League. All of these games have something in common: leveling up.
Now, the leveling system in each game may be different and I may have to complete quests in one whereas in the other I only need to mercilessly beat up the pets of other children, but the concept remains ever relevant: leveling up is necessary for success in any video game. And leveling up is necessary for success in life.
In the Pokémon franchise, as your imposing pets reach new levels, they evolve, increase their stats, and learn new attacks. These attacks must be strategically chosen as each Pokémon can only learn four moves at a time. Some Pokémon are used for defensive purposes, some for offense, some for their speed, and others for their supportive benefits. The movesets for each of these Pokémon is determined based on the Pokémon’s role in your team. This means each move must be chosen carefully and considered each time a new move can be learned by a Pokémon.
The same is true in any team of people trying to accomplish a goal.
In Ephesians, Paul mentions what is commonly called the “Five-Fold Ministry.” This includes the different roles of particularly leaders in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Each role has a unique purpose within the church whether it be making new disciples or encouraging saints in the race of life. These different roles must be fulfilled for the church to be efficient and powerful because if even one slips, the whole system suffers.
Without evangelists to proclaim the gospel, where would new disciples come from? Without the teachers to explain the gospel, where would the discipleship and deeper understanding of Scripture come from? Without the pastors leading the local church, where would guidance for the church come from? God has laid out a plan to use all five ministries just like a choir uses multiple harmonies and voices. With just one voice, a song can be pretty. But with multiple voices working together in multiple harmonies, the song can be elevated above a single performer.
We are just like that Pikachu on our Pokémon team: We must learn the skills necessary to be best utilized and only worry about building skills that fulfill our purpose. Extraneous skills like video games, card games, TV quotes, and trivia can all come in handy for illustrations and relevance, but when it comes to fulfilling our purpose, we need to keep a watchful eye on the balance between what we are doing and why we are doing it. We can justify almost anything, but the question still remains.
When you do x, are you moving closer to fulfilling your purpose or farther away from it?
This principle, the principle of building your skills to fulfill a role and continuing to reevaluate those skills, is important for every aspect of your life: marriage, business, and your journey with the local church.
If I was in school studying to be a great philosopher one day, would you not find it odd if I never had never read a book by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Kant, Leibniz, Hume, or any other major philosopher? What if you asked me about my experience with philosophy as I was a couple years in and I replied, “Descartes who?” Anyone would be taken aback. It definitely isn’t an answer I’d want from my surgeon.
Imagine it.
Your surgeon walks into the room and says, “Alright, it’s time to operate on your heart. Now, if I only I can find it…”
Horrifying.
Yet we waste our time apart from fulfilling our purpose all the time. We read Facebook feeds instead of Philosophy books and we practice our Smash Bros. frames instead of hitting the books on human anatomy. We are that horrifying surgeon in our marriages, our churches, and our businesses.
But that can change.
Focus on relevant skills and develop them consistently. Don’t get caught up in things that don’t matter. And use those skills to pursue your purpose.
Micah Davis
The Soapbox 