Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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Succeeding God's Way
"Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10)
I have never myself, nor do I know of anyone who has ever, dreamt of being a failure. We want to do well at our jobs and we want to see our careers advance. We all want our marriages, our personal and family lives, to be good ones. We want our children to turn out well. We want our relationships and friendships to be healthy. We want other people to think well of us. And we all love stories of people who have "made it" even when it seemed the odds were stacked against them. We all want to succeed.
There is however, a problem, and it is called reality. Reality is, we don't often succeed the way that we wished or imagined. At times, we may even feel that we have failed at what we were trying to accomplish or even worse, that we personally, have turned out to be a dismal failure.
Do we believe that God wants us to fail? Of course not. However, I always thought (and I think that I have received some very helpful personal revelation here), that I had to succeed — with just a little of God's help, of course — so that I could present my success to God. That way of thinking, I have come to see, is sin! Sin? Yes, it falls short of the glory of God because it becomes about what I have done and leaves far too much room for pride and all kinds of other not so wonderful things. We need to realize, even if it is a subtle difference, that God does not call us to success but rather, to faithfulness. When we are faithful, then we succeed. God is the one who brings about success.
Consider the example of Jesus. He said that he was simply doing the work that the Father had given him to finish (John 5:36), that he could do nothing by himself but only what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19), and that he sought not to please himself but the one who sent him (John 5:30). His call was to be faithful. Hebrews calls him "the author and perfecter of our faith . . ." (Hebrews 12:2) and encourages us to "consider him . . ." (Hebrews 12:3).
So, consider Jesus. When he died on the cross, was his mission "a success"? He had about 120 converts, most of whom had fled and were hiding out in an upper room in fear. One of his choice picks and the one on whom he had said he would build his organization had denied even knowing him. One of the 12 who were closest to him had sold him out to those who wanted him dead and subsequently committed suicide. And now, he himself, as leader of this fledgling movement, was dead.
Had Jesus succeeded? No, but he had been faithful. He had done what God had asked him to do (see John 17:4) and he trusted God to bring about the result. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). That's faith! And God honored that faith and raised him from the dead. And the rest of the story? Two thousand plus years later, it is still being written and now there is a multitude of believers that no man can number! God honors faithfulness with success!
Jesus succeeded because he let God do the succeeding. And he gives us the best commentary on this in a sermon recorded in John 12:24-26:
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat (or a seed of faith) falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."
Is this easy? No way. The apostle Paul said that he had to die daily. How about hourly? Maybe even minute-by-minute some times? The only way that we succeed — God's way of succeeding — is through faith. Let our dreams and views of "success" be crucified and let us faith-fully do this day what God has asked us to. God will take care of the rest. God will succeed on our behalf.
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