Days Like These Part II
I used to firmly believe that if I work harder AND smarter I will get more and better results. If I'm not getting what I want then simply do more of what I'm doing. Spend more hours, stay up later, and muscle my way into what I want.
I have spent more time working my tail off and getting no results. For a period of time I worked myself sick reaching out to some tough neighborhood kids. Over six years of contact with these children. I have seen no changes. My church has attempted to conduct outreach with very few results.
We do stuff well, and can work hard when called upon. The one thing we don't do well as patiently wait while praying with great vigor. I have to say that at that I am a big failure. I am a man of action. On the whole my actions at church have yielded only small results.
People try to console me, "Oh, you never know what impact you have had on someone's life until we get to heaven."
Nice, but that's not what I hear from missionaries from any number of places. I hear of people eager to embrace the truth/Good News of the Bible, and the evidence of lives changed. There are always those who talk a good line, but whose lives never evidence any change, but my efforts have run at nearly a 90% failure rate.
Every failure is a life.
It's crazy to do the same thing over and over and expect the different results. I know that I need to spend the greatest efforts in consuming the Bible and spending time in prayer with God. When I talk about prayer, I mean the type that is an close communion with HIM.
I'm no good at that. It seems passive. I want to be active. I want to do and achieve.
The Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death. I'm the poster child for that verse. At least in terms of my efforts leading to dead ends. It is only when I am yielding my self to God, that I see results. It is HE who does the work, and wins the battle. I'm privileged to be the instrument in His hand.
So, I get results by giving up on my own personal agenda, and getting into close personal relationship with God. From that my desires and direction will reflect my love and devotion to HIM. My "success" will be defined by HIS will, and my results will be from HIS hand.
I think I get it.
Comments, please. Your feedback is welcome.
Adam
I have spent more time working my tail off and getting no results. For a period of time I worked myself sick reaching out to some tough neighborhood kids. Over six years of contact with these children. I have seen no changes. My church has attempted to conduct outreach with very few results.
We do stuff well, and can work hard when called upon. The one thing we don't do well as patiently wait while praying with great vigor. I have to say that at that I am a big failure. I am a man of action. On the whole my actions at church have yielded only small results.
People try to console me, "Oh, you never know what impact you have had on someone's life until we get to heaven."
Nice, but that's not what I hear from missionaries from any number of places. I hear of people eager to embrace the truth/Good News of the Bible, and the evidence of lives changed. There are always those who talk a good line, but whose lives never evidence any change, but my efforts have run at nearly a 90% failure rate.
Every failure is a life.
It's crazy to do the same thing over and over and expect the different results. I know that I need to spend the greatest efforts in consuming the Bible and spending time in prayer with God. When I talk about prayer, I mean the type that is an close communion with HIM.
I'm no good at that. It seems passive. I want to be active. I want to do and achieve.
The Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death. I'm the poster child for that verse. At least in terms of my efforts leading to dead ends. It is only when I am yielding my self to God, that I see results. It is HE who does the work, and wins the battle. I'm privileged to be the instrument in His hand.
So, I get results by giving up on my own personal agenda, and getting into close personal relationship with God. From that my desires and direction will reflect my love and devotion to HIM. My "success" will be defined by HIS will, and my results will be from HIS hand.
I think I get it.
Comments, please. Your feedback is welcome.
Adam
posted by Sojourn @ 11:05 AM
2 Comments:
At 4/04/2006 2:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I believe Jesus wanted us to spend more time loving our neighbor and helping others, rather than worrying about whether our evangelism tactics are successful. If our primary focus is to "win the lost for Christ", we are probably going to be frustrated. It's not up to us to "save" the lost. We just plant the seeds and spread the word. The "greatest commandment" was to love others as we do ourselves. That first part of that acknowledges that we typically love ourselves more than others. Then, Jesus flips that around and asks us to think about others. In my experience, people are confused by someone who isn't self-centered, and will ask questions. It's not all about numbers and statistics and how many people you lead to the Lord. It's about how are you personally doing with not being self-centered, and show Christ's love via just reaching out and helping others. No expectation of anything in return. That's the challenge. There is no "failure" because it's not about whether you "succeeded". What would you have succeeded at? Selling Christ? It's also not about how much time you spend in church or in the bible. We need to be more outward facing and spending time with our fellow man. Study of the Bible is fine, but doesn't replace the need for us to love others as we do ourselves.
At 4/05/2006 9:20 AM,
Blog Intro said…
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