You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘success’ tag.
Sharing a burden helps the burden bearer because his load is lightened and he can gain new perspective on solutions, it benefits the one who comes alongside because he gains an understanding of the burden and the bearer, it helps both because when the task is done there is a sense of accomplishment and a bond between the two is created. You have a new brother or sister.
Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank Proverbs 22:29
The difference between excellence and mediocrity can often be determined by our attitude about God, ourselves and others. Of the three, our view of ourselves is perhaps the most powerful adversary to our rising to excellence.
If we see ourselves as failures, we will most likely never rise to excellence. We look at past failures and say to ourselves “I’ll never amount to anything. Everything I’ve ever done has failed. The more we dwell on our failures the easier it is to become afraid to fail, complacent in what we do, or just give up all together. I wonder if even the Apostle Paul was near that point when he wrote in his letter to the Romans “The things I want to do I never do, the things I hate doing, I always do.”
The Bible is full of stories of people just like you who have failed in life. Time and again they’ve picked themselves up only to be knocked down. But God used them in mighty ways. Don’t let the past keep you from excelling into the future.
Another hindrance to our rising to the level of excellence is our view of what success really is. Often we measure success by what other people have done or are doing. This is true in the spiritual realm, the physical realm, and the emotional/relational realm. We look at someone else’s job, skills, ‘spirituality’, spouse, etc. and say, I’ll never succeed. Look at how well Mary prays or how well Joe does his job.
Excellence is a personal thing. Your Heavenly Father is the one that bestowed gifts on you. He is the one that gives you opportunities to use those gifts. Excellence in your corner of the world may never be seen by others outside of your own circle. That doesn’t make it less excellent. Stop comparing yourself to others. Be the very best you can be. Accept your flaws, work to correct what you can and do what you can to make your corner of the world brighter.
When our past gets in the way or we are surrounded by people who seem to have ‘made it’ it’s easy to play the blame game as well. We ask God why He won’t do for us what He did for them. We may even get angry with Him and doubt His wisdom, power or existence. That’s the time to step back and remember that God’s desire is for you to rely on Him, not to have a bunch of friends and be famous. Excellence to God is being godly parents, children and members of our community who walk in close relationship to Him.
Stop comparing yourself to others. Don’t let the past act as handcuffs in keeping you from living the future to its fullest. Allow God to work through you to be the best you can be. He isn’t looking for cookie-cutter Christians. He’s looking for people of excellence.
PRAYER: Father, there are some many times when I’ve allowed my view of myself or the view others have of me to keep me from being excellent for you. Forgive me for basing who I am on what I see in others. Empower me to be excellent in everything I do today, in each life I touch and every task I do. For I exist to glorify You, not myself. In Jesus name, Amen.
If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Psalm 37:23-24
When I was young I used to dream of being a famous athlete. I imagined myself being in position to win the big game. Sometimes it was the winning basket at the buzzer in the championship game. Sometimes it was hitting a homerun with bases loaded, two out, behind by three and a 3 ball, two strike count. Other times it was breaking free for the winning touchdown.
There were several things that kept those dreams from becoming a reality. The major one is that while I love sports of all kinds, I’m really not very athletic! So no matter how much I’d like to make any of those achievements, it just wasn’t going to happen!
Sometimes we feel that way about our walk with Jesus. We get up in the morning feeling like we can tackle any challenge before us. Then we burn the toast, remember that we forgot to buy milk and find a flat tire on our car! Things tend to go downhill from there and at the end of the day we realize that our thoughts, actions and words haven’t made us the spiritual champion we hoped we would be.
To make matters worse, it seems like people who could care less about living for Jesus seem to be prosperous, happy, successful people. We look at others and wonder what we are doing wrong and if God even notices that we are doing our best.
Psalm 37 has good news for us. Even though it seems that people who are evil are winning, they aren’t. God doesn’t look on a person’s actions. He measures us by our heart, our desires, our yearning to follow Him.
I like the way the message phrases Psalm 37:23-24, “Stalwart walks in step with GOD; his path blazed by GOD, he’s happy. If he stumbles, he’s not down for long; GOD has a grip on his hand”
These verses remind me of a small child walking on ice. No matter how hard they try to walk, they will slip and fall. But, if a loving parent is holding their hand, even if they do fall, the fall will be temporary and relatively painless. Mom or dad will lift them back to their feet. That’s what Jesus does for us. We try to live for him. We fail by the words we speak or the thoughts we think. We do things we’ve promised ourselves we’ll never do (and do them again!). Still, because of His love, forgiveness and grace, He picks us up and helps us continue on our way.
There are three promises of God in these verses. First, God delights in our attempts at living for Him. Second, we will fail at times. Third (and I like this best), He’ll help us get back on our feet!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I come to you today feeling like a complete failure. There are so many times I’ve tried to live for you. So many times I’ve tried to break the bad habits I’ve formed, said words I didn’t mean and had thoughts that are displeasing to you. Forgive me for my failures. Help me back to my feet so I can walk closely with you. Most of all, thank you for loving me so much! In Your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 