Success...
Believer,
our lives are IN Christ, so our definitions for success and failure are not
defined by our culture. Success for us is abiding in Jesus. Success, for the
believer, is more about obeying God and enjoying Him than it is about the
things we often use in our culture to measure success.
For
example, in the Kingdom, success is more about being something than having
something. Some of us want million dollar bank accounts and have ten cent
character. See, that's backwards! In the Kingdom, a pauper can have the riches
of Christ!
Christian,
our success is more about enjoying who God is than it is about obtaining what
the world has. We have to cultivate the capacity for simple enjoyment. The
Apostle Paul said, "I have learned to be content." There is something
to that pursuit! It's less about grabbing stuff and more about enjoying
Jesus!
Success,
to the believer, is not about being served, but in serving others. Even the
Lord Jesus said, "I come to serve, not to be served." Let us pursue
THAT! When God takes a look at our works in response to being in fellowship
with Him, He will not be impressed with how easy we made things on ourselves.
God is looking for who we loved and who we served and who we helped.
Finally,
remembering the prophets who were slain, the apostles who were persecuted, and
our Savior who gave His life to pay the debt of sin and reconcile man... let's
consider a simple truth about success: often, what looks like terrible failure
in the realm of man can be redounding success in the Kingdom.
As
I think of what success, surely, more can be said, mostly I think of being near
to and depending upon Jesus.
"Fear
not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen
you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. … Do not
be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Isaiah 41:10 &
Philippians 4:6 ESV)
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