You have heard the expression, "living on borrowed time".
That's me. [Truly, all of us.] I have out lived most of
my contemporaries and my days are numbered. That throws
a different prospective on life. Where did it go? What do I
have to show for it????
What do I have to show for it? This has been a concern
of mine for some time now. I have not established any great
ministry, or been a philanthropist. I can point to no great
exploits or accomplishments. I have not even attained the status
of super saint or prayer warrior. And my next step will
be to stand before God. Is it to be empty handed?
The world teaches us to "hitch our wagon to a star". To
set lofty goals and strive for great attainments. Not how to
fail. Where have I failed?
But God. I love that. But God has shown me something.
I have read all the way through the Bible more times
than the years you have been alive. And nowhere in it
does it teach, instruct, urge or exhort us to establish goals
or plans for success, or seek great accomplishments, even for God.
[Yes, it does speak of planning - depending on the version
you are reading. And the apostle Paul's goal was to please
Christ, as should be ours and our ambition is to be to lead
a quite life. In fact the apostle Paul made plans a number
of times - but often God changed them. Consider the
Macedonian call.
But, all the way from Genesis to Revelation it does
exhort us walk with, live, love, and obey God daily. That
is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart" etc.
Let's face it. If you or I, every day do or go where God
wants us to. Step by step we are going to end up where God
wants us to be, and accomplish what God wants us to.
Also, we will have gotten there the way God wants us
to, not the way we think we should.
And, all the way from Genesis to Revelation it does exhort
us to do good, good deeds, help our fellow man etc.
"And thou shalt love they neighbor as thy self" etc.
Remember the woman who broke the vile of perfume
on Jesus. The disciples rebuked her. But Jesus said
to leave her alone. "She has done what she could."
Have I done what I could???
Or, in the Temple rich people were throwing in lots
of money. [That's what I wanted to do.] But a poor widow
put in two (2) copper coins. And because that was all she
had, Jesus said she put in more than the rest. (That's where
I get my "MY TWO CENTS WORTH".)
Consider several Scriptures,
"Not every one who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' shall
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will
of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will
say to me 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name'
and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty
works in your name?' And then will I declare to them,
'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'"
(Matthew 7:21-23 RSV)
[Notice that, 'I never knew you..." There was no
relationship with Christ."]
and in contrast,
"He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"
(Micah 6:8 RSV)
Jesus said,
"You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink
of cold water to one of the least of these my
followers because he is my follower will certainly
receive a reward."
(Matthew 10:42 GNT)
When the creator was here on earth he also said,
"... If one of you wants to be great,
you must be the servant of the rest;
and if one of you wants to be first,
you must be the slave of all."
(Mark 10:43, 44 TEV)
Joseph C. Aldrich said,
"Do what God has gifted you to do."
Gentle Persuasion
p.59
That speaks to me.
Apparently God did not gift me to do great things.
With the "skills" he provided me with,
a wrench fits my hand better.
Now I feel like Bruce Larson expressed it
when writing to Keith Miller:
"...you were so excited about realizing that you didn't
have to do something 'big' for God?"
THE EDGE OF ADVENTURE
p.84
As Bruce, a minister, latter expressed it,
"I do not believe that God holds us responsible for success,
but for obedience. He will judge us by our efforts,
not by our successes."
THE EDGE OF ADVENTURE
P.182
Paul Rader that great evangelist of the late 1800's
and early 1900's made this comment about serving
Christ.
"He is not asking you to do great things.
He is asking you to allow Him to do things."
Paul Rader's
Stories of His Early Life.
p.46
And Oswald Chambers, that great saint of almost
a century ago said,
"It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional
things for God; but we have not. We have to be
exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean
streets, among mean people, and this is not learned
in five minutes."
My Utmost For His Highest
Oswald Chambers
p. 218
Isn't that great?
God does not call us to great accomplishments.
But simply to be obedient and faithful to him.
If God puts a dream in us,
of course - go for it. We would have to, to be
faithful and obedient to him.
But if he has not.....
My desire now would simply be,
when I stand before God to have a life time
of walking day by day with him and
a string of good deeds left behind.
However,
I know human nature. So when you are busy
making your plans consider these truths.
"A man's mind plans his way,
but the Lord directs his steps."
and
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will
be established."
and
"A man's steps are ordered by the LORD;
how then can a man understand his way?"
and
"I know, O LORD, that the way of man
is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct
his steps."
(Proverbs 16:9, 19:23, 20:24, Jeremiah 10:23 RSV)
PS.
I started this post a long time ago.
But because it is so contrary to popular opinion
I was reluctant to post it. In fact, I was beginning
to wonder if I had missed it altogether. So while
doing some searching of others writings. (Even
with "DR." attached to their names.) I found
none to lead me to a Scriptural exhortation to
set goals etc. They did however give some
examples of what they thought required goal
setting.
In the process I ran across the following link.
These folks seem to be the most level headed
of any that I have found after many years of
Bible reading. You might find it interesting.
Just be sure that you walk daily with God.
And may the Lord bless you in that walk.
