God was interested not in success, but in obedience.
Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, 2010, pg 363
As a Christian, are you focused on success or on obedience to God? Our society lauds success. Just think of people who make the headlines – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Brady. Last I looked, neither any of my friends nor I had made headline news. The only people we seem to be interested in as much if not more than the successful, are those that have fallen from “grace” – Bill Cosby, Ted Haggard, Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman), Lance Armstrong.
Most of us are not rewarded for our obedience to our employers. Rather, we are paid commissions or bonuses and given promotions based on our successes. We push our children to be successful in school, sports, music, career choices, etc. And when the don’t meet society’s definition of success, we simply don’t talk about it or we make excuses for them.
God, on the other hand, doesn’t reward success as defined by society. He couldn’t care what grades we get, or if we are a super star in sports or music or how much money we make. God sees success as our obedience to him. Obedience to God is not, however, a way to earn a place in heaven. Our obedience should come about because of our love for God and what he has done for us. When you love someone, you want to demonstrate that love through actions. We demonstrate our love for God through our obedience to him.
We’re asserting that faith in essence is loyalty.
Obedience is the expression of loyalty, not the proof it.
Mark E. Moore, Core 52, 2019, pg 190-191
Making the shift from striving for earthly success to obedience to God is challenging. We are surrounded by people telling us what it means to be successful, how to achieve success, and to go from zero to hero in 10 easy steps and judging us for the choices we make. We shouldn’t be surprised the task set before us takes effort. Peter had been imprisoned for teaching the people. When he was brought before the high priest again for teaching, he said:
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29
And in Romans 8:7, we are told
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God,
for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Paul confirms Jesus’ teachings in Romans 2:6-8
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
Earthly success is not easy. It takes hard work to be the best in your field. Because we can earn a certain amount of fame, power, or notoriety through hard work, we tend to think we can earn our way to heaven. But herein lies the difference. While we can achieve success on earth through our own effort, we cannot save ourselves. God saved us when he sent his only son to die for our sins.
We each have a choice to make. Do we want success here on earth or do we want a place for all eternity in heaven with our Father? What path will choose?
Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.
James 2:17-18
Just for today, won’t you focus on obedience to God instead instead of obedience to the pull of this world?
Have a very blessed day!
– PSG –
Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Recent Comments