Many people think they would like to be what is called dynamic but it does not appear that they always have a very clear idea of what that expression really means. Aggressive and noisy? Bombastic in manner?
A dynamic person is one who really makes a difference in the world, who does something that changes things or people. The magnitude of the work done may not be great, but the world is different because that person has lived and worked. The real secret of a dynamic personality is to believe that God works through you, whatever you may be doing; to put His service first, and to be as sincere, practical, and efficient as you know how.
... know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind ... (1 Chronicles 28:9)
To break this down:
“A dynamic person is one who really makes a difference in the world, who does something that changes things or people. The magnitude of the work done may not be great, but the world is different because that person has lived and worked.”
The magnitude of the change is not measurable with reference to the magnitude of the action or the magnitude of the material-world change evident. It is known in God’s eyes and measured with respect to the shift in people’s souls that occurs as a result.
If any change does ultimately occur in the material world, it will have started in the soul. This is why actions that affect others’ souls are the only way to effect change. Being cross, strident, and generally right about things does nothing but aggravate everyone and increase the general tumult and conflict.
Most real change is invisible and spread across so many people across so much time that it cannot be discerned with the naked—material—eye.
“The real secret of a dynamic personality is to believe that God works through you, whatever you may be doing.”
Doing something important in the world does not, therefore, mean being materially successful or wealthy, achieving accolades, acclaim, advancement, or accomplishment.
One can have those things and be dead and useless, another sprocket in the mercantile leviathan grinding life to dust and chewing up endless cavalcades of sleeping souls.
The key thing to be successful, therefore, is to surrender every thought and action to God as an instrument.
“to put His service first”
What is His service? Anything He asks me to do. I don’t have to judge whether I think it’s spiritual. I just have to do it.
First: ahead of what? Ahead of what I want, what I feel driven to do, what impulses impel me to do, or what my superego says is the rightful thing in the ideas of polite, educated society, conventional wisdom, or any of the other cloakings of the literally demonic ego.
“and to be as sincere, practical, and efficient as you know how.”
Sincere: simply doing the thing well for the sake of doing it well.
Practical: treating everything as a simple sequence of tasks.
Efficient: deploying my time, attention, and resources to the best available opportunity of the moment.