Chains and Leg Irons

…The man had often been attacked by the demon. And even thought he had been bound with chains and leg irons and kept under guard, he smashed whatever bound him… – Luke 8:29

Sometimes you come across a biblical account or story, that has intense symbolic value, whether it was the authors intention or not. This story in Luke 8:26-39 of a man possessed by a mob of demons, sounds strangely familiar.

Not the demon part. The chains and leg irons part.

I cannot say that I’ve encountered many demon possessed people, but neither can I say that I haven’t found that almost everybody resorts to chains and leg irons to subdue their (and others’) infections. Only to smash whatever it is that binds them, whatever it is that binds me - and then  throw on bigger, better, smarter locks and bolts in the hopes that we will now, finally, get ourselves under control.

As stupidly obvious as it sounds: you will not find freedom in chains.

Born Identification

What is Christmas really about? If only I had a rupee for every time I heard someone ask that question.
Christmas is about born identification. It is a time to remember when the all supreme, all powerful, all knowing God, in his infinite love, came down to earth and identified with mankind. It is a time to remember when the God who is too pure and holy for us to even approach or look at, came down to our level, was born, just as we were and began a life as a mere man.
We often struggle to bridge the gap between cultures, even the gap between people of the same nationality, different families, heck, even our own families. It takes something special to step out of where we are and cross social, economic, family, racial boundaries. You see, we talk about Gods love shown through Christ’s death on the cross, but lets also remember His love shown by crossing the heavens, through His born identification.

Self Consciousness

I don't agree with being self conscious. Self aware, yes - Don't be stupid and not think about what you are doing, but self consciousness is another thing.
"Self conscious" is a pretty teenage girl who can only think about herself. If you want to be a good person you need to be otherwise conscious, knowing and concerning yourself with the needs and desires of others.
But if you want to be a good Christian (iow., Christ Follower) you need to be entirely Christ conscious.  Forgetting who you were and living who Christ is. Loosing yourself to find Christ. That is the path of Salvation.

I’m sorry, but there’s no such thing as independence

Independence does not exist. We only think that it does.

It is a mirage on the horizon of our pride.

Nothing and no-one can be independent

Everything and everyone must be interdependent

Can the fruit of a tree deny the existence of hidden roots which feed it? Or do they spring out of air? Can a son exist without first having a father and a mother? Or did he also spring out of the air?
You may stand on your own two feet. But you are standing on something.  You may sail across the ocean, but it’s the wind which carries you.

Ultimately, all things, success or failure, riches or poverty, life or death, come down to our dependence on an interdependent Trinity.

Stimulation

We live in a day and age of great stimulation. When we are stimulated, we become “alive”, we “wake up”, we are “driven”. The forms of stimulation around us are plentiful. Television, computers, movies, iPod’s, smart phones, billboards, Facebook, YouTube etc. If it is not flashy, interesting in appearance or has some kind of connection with our desires, it just doesn’t get a response from us. For a 21st century guy, sitting in a stone building, on hard wooden benches, listening to a monotone preacher talk about the importance of Numbers and then singing songs which have no beat, no metal and no rhythm would be counter-stimulating. I would totally understand if he fell asleep and never remembered anything from the service…except for that pretty girl with the long curly hair, light brown eyes, slim figure and gentle smile, sitting across the isle.
Nowadays it takes good music, good preaching and a kick in the backside from the pastor to wake us up to do what we should be doing. Now, I don’t think stimulation is bad, or wrong or anything of the sorts, but Here’s the problem: most of our stimulation is external, at least for us young people.
We are to “…take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5) and  “…let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind” (Rom. 12:2)
How can we call ourselves disciplined or committed Christians if we only do what we are externally stimulated to do? The problem with stimulation, for most of us like me, is that it is always coming from the outside. Until it comes from within us, we will be controlled by the world and whatever it drives us to do, rather than the inner stimulus of a life transformed by Christ and driven by the Holy Spirit.
With Christ in us, we will be driven to do things that make no sense to the outside world. Because our stimulus comes from within, from the the rock, the solid foundation that is Christ and not from the ever-changing, always increasing, never satisfying stimuli around us. 

A Legacy

Very few of us will admit that we want a life of mediocrity, but at the end of the day, so many of us have been willing to settle for it. Most of us, I’m sure, would like to live a great life, to be well known, to be praised, adored, loved. Not that most of us are willing or know anything of the sacrifice it takes to live a great life. Nevertheless, those who are slightly wiser may want their greatness to echo through the ages, to be remembered a hundred years, a thousand years after their time. Imagine. Wouldn’t that be something.
But this is what I’m really wondering. Will you leave behind a legacy, or will you leave behind the Christ? Because no matter how great you are, there is only one name that will never fail. It is a name that you and I can carry with pride, a name which brings life, and life in abundance. Do you know what name I’m talking about? Do you know who I am talking about? No…do you know the person that I am talking about?
Let your Legacy be written in the heavens. Let your name be written in the book of life. But here on earth, let it be the name of the LORD that is remember through your life.
If I am remembered it will be because of God, if He is remembered, let me have something to do with it. Because He loves me. And I love Him too.

Following

What does God want from me? What does he want me to do? Where is he leading me? Where is my life going? These are questions we often ask. I believe that they all spring from good intentions. But the questions may miss the point.

I will draw from three sources to illustrate my point, Hudson Taylor, Oswald Chambers and my Dad.

While Hudson Taylor was pleading with God to send men into China, when everything seemed hopeless and no one was coming to Christ, he came to a realisation and wrote, “Why, if we are obeying the Lord, the responsibility rests with Him, not with us!…at Your bidding, as Your servant I go forward, leaving results with you.” When we live in obedience to God, the responsibility of leading, of results, of success, lie with God, because we have submitted ourselves to him and surrendered in faith.

Oswald Chambers writes, “You have no business trying to find out where God is leading – the only thing God will explain to you is Himself” (July 8) This take some explaining, what about Jesus’ words, “I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” I don’t think Chambers is refuting Jesus’ words, rather he is making a point. Our focus needs to be on God, who He is, not what he wants us to do or where he wants us to go, the latter will naturally flow out of the former.

My Dad said to me one day, “You will know God’s will through your daily relationship with him” God’s will doesn’t just appear to us out of the blue when we beg him to tell us (maybe some people get lucky), it comes from a close relationship with Him.

The question we should be asking is: How can I know you better Lord? We should ask Him to reveal more of himself to us, we should draw near to Him, so He will draw near to us. When we are so close that our hearts are one, beating to the same rhythm, we will be doing what He wants us to do, going where He wants us to go.


What do you think?

A desire for beauty

I’m a guy, beauty is not usually equated with guys, we tend to be rough, dirty, strong, insensitive at times, with a tough exterior that rarely lets you know what our hearts long for.
Maybe I’m only speaking for myself, but I don’t think so. I want beauty, I don’t want to be feminine and I don’t want to look pretty…ever, but I need her. I need to see her, feel her, experience her, own her. Beauty, she captivates my heart. Endless mountain ranges woven together by green valleys, the eagle that soars above it all, I desire it. The quiet beauty of the desert at night with nothing but stars to keep you company…I desire it. These things are moving, beautiful, unforgettable. but in God’s creation there is one thing that he made more beautiful than the rest, more desirable than the rest, more captivating than the rest, that is Woman. How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! …the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. .. Show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

There is something about her that steals my eyes, grasps my heart, catches my breath. No, it is not lust. It is adoration, even love. For a man to find a beauty to call his own, a wife to to be one with, a love to spend his life with, is one of the greatest expressions of God’s care and provision for us. Its depths are unfathomable yet its testimony to who God is, what it is to be created in His image, becomes all the more clearer.
Dear Woman. The world spits in your face, it kicks you when you are down, robs you of your innocence. The world tries to make you something you are not, it destroys relationships, breaks your heart, leaves you feeling worthless. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Submit yourselves to God, wash his feet with your finest perfume and tears of adoration, leave the past and live for Him and He will make you new, he will give you a clean heart, a renewed spirit.
Dear Men. Don’t let your your love turn to lust, don’t worship the creation instead of the Creator. Stand up straight, live up to the holiness to which you were called. Lay your life down for the cross. He is your shield and your strength. Take hold of the Kingdom of God and be a good soldier of Christ. 
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” Philippians 4:8

A case for “wholeness”

I read a recent blog by a pastor/teacher that I respect and admire very much, the title of the blog is: I'm Sorry but Jesus Does Not Make Anybody Whole, you can read it for yourself to get a better idea, but, I find myself struggling to agree and so have made a short case for wholeness in Christ. Check out the verses, carefully think about it and then please let me know what you think:
It is in death that we have life (Phil 1:21); we can only be strong in our brokenness (2 Cor. 12:9-10), only when we have accepted Christ AND let go of/lose self will we have “wholeness”, “For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, and you have been given full life in union with him.” (Col 2:9-10). Accepting Christ is the entering into “wholeness”, where we can begin to build our lives and become stronger in faith (Col 2:6-7). Although there is still much left to be done and realised, although we are still bound by our bodies, we are whole when we are in Christ (not in ourselves) (Is 53:5), looking beyond our frail bodies and fleshly temptations we must realise that we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), not in body but in Spirit, so God’s spirit in us is a guarantee of what is to come for us (2 Cor. 5:5).
The essence of who I am is whole in Christ, my body is weak and easily broken, but my body is not the measure of my wholeness, Christ in me is.

Fuel you can’t go without

There once was a man who who owned the most luxurious car in the world, he paid a lot of money for it, he had it cleaned and serviced regularly…it was quite the masterpiece. People from all over admired him for it, some may say that he was worshiped for the stunning piece of machinery. He was liked, a role model, all who knew him longed to achieve what he had, to be able to sit in heaven on wheels. But, with all the glitz and glamour, there was a problem that everyone had overlooked: The car had no fuel and it never went anywhere.

Just across the road their lived a poor delivery boy, all he had was a rotten old scooter, the noise it made irritated the neighbours, others laughed and made jokes about it, it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned or serviced in years. But, the boy never missed a delivery, he went to and fro as was needed of him. With all of the filth, noise and unassuming boy driving the beat up scooter, no one realised: The scooter had fuel and it went places.
With all of our skills, talents, looks and charm, we may be praised, we may be the centre of attention and we may be considered a success. But in God’s Kingdom, if we are not fueled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We’re never going to get anywhere.

Afflictions of the Righteous

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:19
Sunday night, just a day or two before I leave my friends in India for Johannesburg, someone comes up to me, looking slightly distressed and says something to the effect of the verse above.

I wondered a lot about this verse, what is God trying to say to me? Is something really bad going to happen to me? A few months later and I’m still wondering, waiting, when It hit me. Our pain is not a pain of the world. If I lost all my money, all support from family, got left to roam a desert on my own with nothing but the clothes on my back, I would still be happy so long as I have God by my side. These kind of things shouldn’t be a concern, there is no point in worrying about my stuff. Even persecution should bring me joy because it shows that I’m living for God. Perhaps “afflictions” are different from person to person. For me, for the time being, It’s the lost state of the world.
The pain and suffering experienced by millions around the world right now, hurt me. The sin and corruption that runs rampant in society, breaks me. As I draw nearer to God, my heart looses sight of the pleasure in sin. As those I love fall into temptation without remorse, my soul cries. Jesus had compassion when he saw the people without a shepherd, on the cross his concern was for those crucifying him, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” When I ask, “Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours”, I get a taste of what God feels.
That’s the one side, the outside. The inside, is my own temptations. I won’t suffer by going with the flow of things. I could just follow the way of the world, no obstructions, just a waterfall and death drop at the end, but that’s too far ahead for me to worry about…right? Saying no to anything unholy equals getting pounded in the face by tonnes of storm water. And that is what I want. Let me suffer, and let that suffering turn into endurance, character, faith and hope. This is a suffering I bring upon myself, let it be swift, and let God be there with his delivering hand.

Want direction in your life?

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shal direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Put more simply than it is already stated: Trust God with all your heart. Don't rely on your own understanding. In everything you do, submit to God's rule. Then he will guide you allong.
Easy said, simple, straightforward and true. Not so easy to do? Don't complicate it. Let go and let God. 

Contextualizing…

I have been thinking... Up to what point can one contextualise the gospel? Before i answer the question lets define “contextualising the gospel” and give an example or two.
Urban dictionary gives this definition of the word context:

The circumstances or events that come before and after a particular word or passage in a speech or piece of writing which helps explain its full meaning.
For example
Context: You are playfully poking me in the side
"I'll kill you if you don't stop!"

Contextualising is when the meaning of anything, be it actions, words pictures etc. are put into a context that makes sense to a recipient and helps them understand the intended meaning.
I found some really interesting info on the Mediterranean culture of Paul's time, relating to gifts.

..in Rom 15:27 Paul calls the “freewill” offering made by the churches of Macedonia and Achaia for the Jerusalem saints a “duty”. This, on the surface, would appear to a         modern non-Mediterranean reader to be a conflicting statement; since, in many modern cultures, a strict distinction is made between a freewill gift and a duty. In Paul’s Mediterranean culture however, there was no such thing as a completely free gift. The reception of the gift placed the recipient under a certain reciprocal obligation, at least to acknowledge the debt of gratitude...Reciprocity was one important cultural value that bonded the Mediterranean societies together. Annang Asumang (2009:8)

I find it fascinating how this would have affected their view on the free gift of Grace we receive. These people would most likely have automatically realised that: yes, we got a free gift, but that accepting it placed them under a huge obligation towards God, to the extent that he actually owns us and we owe our lives totally to him. What's even more interesting to me is the similar Maale culture (in remote Ethiopia) of giving gifts and the reciprocation thereof. The tradition, as far as i remember, went along the lines of someone giving me around 3 gifts and me reciprocating with a big gift (vice versa), thus sealing our friendship forever.
Perhaps this is a good example of how contextualising the gospel can work, if parts of the culture benefit the persons understanding of God's word and salvation, great, so long as it doesn't change or replace the gospel in any way.

I think a good Biblical example of contextualising is in Acts 17:22-23,

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

Its interesting that Paul didn't barge in and rebuke the "gods" of these well learned people, but rather used their beliefs to introduce the gospel.
Other verses that come to mind are: 1 Cor 9:19-23 "...I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some..." (e.g. Adapting to the culture) and Rom 12:17-18 "...Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.." (e.g. dressing appropriately).
With this in mind it is vital that ones identity is found in Christ and not any culture. I think culture is great to the point where it helps us to relate to God on human terms, in our understanding, but it is an aid in pointing us towards an understanding of God, not a tool with which to box God into. Therefore every culture has something very valuable to 'reveal' about God (since mankind is made in His image), but the culture is not the point, God is. What do you think?

Hard and Unyielding

Ever find it hard to repent?

"Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:3

John Bunyan writes this in The Pilgrims Progress:

The man said, I was once a fair and flourishing professor, both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others… I am now a man of despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage. I cannot get out. Oh, now I cannot!… I left off to watch and be sober. I laid the reins, upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light of the Word and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and he is gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and he has left me: I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot repent…

I have crucified him to myself afresh [Heb. 6:6]; I have despised his person [Luke 19:14]; I have despised his righteousness; I have "counted his blood an unholy thing"; I have "done despite to the Spirit of grace". [Heb. 10:28-29] Therefore I have shut myself out of all the promises, and there now remains to me nothing but threatenings, dreadful threatenings, fearful threatenings, of certain judgement and fiery indignation, which shall devour me as an adversary…For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight; but now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me like a burning worm.

Two men prayed, a Pharisee and a tax collector, one man ‘good’ one man ‘bad’. When they prayed the Pharisee held his head high and thanked God that he was not a sinner like the tax collector, the tax collector could not even look up at heaven and begged for mercy. (Luke 18:9-14). Can you guess who went home Justified?

I don’t think that there is anything more dangerous than being unable to repent. So when i feel my heart hardening what can I do but fall to my knees and beg Jesus to break this heart of stone. It is a state we should never allow ourselves to fall into, catch sin when its young and pull it out by the root before it consumes the whole person. The longer you wait the harder it will become.
And all this beings said, I’d just like to thank my God, for his patience and ever enduring efforts, to bring His children back to Himself.
Read: Ezekiel 11:19 ; Ezekiel 36:26

Rules of The Game

Lets say life is like a game…
Games have rules that govern how they should be played, these rules are there for the purpose of serving the game and its players. The rules allow for a fair and fun experience. How? By protecting the player, by providing a platform on which to play that avoids players steering into confusion and chaos.

Rules in a game are great. So long as rules aren’t the game.
Life has rules that govern how one should live, these rules are there for the purpose of serving life and the people. The rules allow for a healthy and fruitful life. How? By protecting the people, by providing a platform on which to live that avoids people steering into confusion and chaos.
Rules in life are good. So long as rules aren’t life.
I don’t want to be your imagination for you, so I’ll let you think about the implications.

On Terror

How does terror affect society on the whole? What does it do to a person? Perhaps terrorism can be attributed to a tactic of the devil, perhaps it is just the result of a fallen world, maybe both. I wonder what the real dangers of terrorism are…
One of the definitions of Terror, as defined by the oxford online dictionary is the: use of extreme fear to intimidate people, but I think that dictionary.com gives a better definition: Intense, overpowering fear. It’s pretty clear that this is happening all over the globe. Acts of terrorism are very common with the latest development being the transportation of two bombs on cargo planes destined for the US. In other news 14 soccer players were massacred in Honduras for reasons not yet apparent. This is only the latest news, there are countless other examples from pre and post 9/11. Sometimes the motivation may be religious, sometimes revenge or simply psychotic behaviour. What ever the reasons are, and I am sure there are many, the results are the same: Terror!
Terrorism in its various forms usually serve some sort of purpose. Reading any days news will probably reveal some of the reasons behind terror attacks. I don’t want to go there. What I want to do is evaluate terrorism from a broad perspective, on the whole.
What is happening on the larger scale? How does terror affect society? Two thoughts pop into my head. Insecurity and mistrust. I think these two issues are far greater than the actual acts of terror. What!? Let me explain, Insecurity and mistrust destroy relationships, they replace love with fear and trust with faithlessness. This is bad in two ways, one, it kills you from the inside out and two it encourages more terror.
Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by faith. 1 John 4:18 says that there is no fear in love. Philippians 4:7 says, And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Terror tries to rob us of these things: Faith, love and peace. God gives us peace at heart, terror tries to take it away. Love drives out fear, terror tries to bring it back. We are saved by faith, terror tries to divert it, be it by losing heart or running to other securities.
On the other hand, one’s faith, love and yes even peace, can be tried, tested and ultimately strengthened in the end. So which will it be? Contemplate Solomon's words: If you are weak in a crisis, you are weak indeed.

Building on Truths

Often times when one comes into a debate with persons of different religions or of no religious beliefs, our first instinct is to tell them exactly what is wrong with their belief system or religion. This is how we learn it in  Bible college, our pastor tells us what’s bad about other faiths and when we think about other beliefs we automatically lean towards the negative aspects of those beliefs.

Without coming across as ‘new age’ I have to admit that every religion and belief system has some degree of truth to it. If it were all lies there would be no followers. Isn’t a good lie always concealed in truth? To say Islam is totally false, or Judaism is totally false or Hinduism, Buddhism etc. is totally false, would be a blatant lie. And if one were to hold this view then Christianity as a religion would also have to be viewed as totally false since there are some many Christian cults, sects, misinterpretations and false teachings out there that claim the title of ‘Christian’; look around any Christian book store if you don’t believe me. 

As Christians we often come off as opposing everything, history shows it, our preaching shows it. Is that the way things should be done? Is that the way things were done in new testament times? Often times we take stands against things instead of for things. Christians against gay marriage, Christians against abortion, Christians against terrorism…yes, that’s great, those are bad things. But what about Christians FOR love and forgiveness, Christians for peace, Christians for Christ.

Instead of approaching issues and religions in specific from a negative perspective I propose a positive approach. What i mean by this is that one starts with the good in something and build on that, working out all the bad and lies.

Every religion stems from the truth about God, Christ, salvation and the whole story of everything. The same way that everyone, eventually somewhere down the line is related to Adam and Eve. God is the creator, Satan does not create, he only twists, distorts and destroys truth. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to our evangelical mission to approach those people of other beliefs in humility and respect, commending them for the good and correcting them in Love?

There’s a lot more to be said and dealt with, but I’d like to leave it here for now and hear what you think?

doesn’t always make sense

What do we know? Honestly, out of all the cumulative knowledge in the universe, from the wisdom of our God to the simplest of earthly creatures, what do we know? We know nothing, the poor bum on the street compared to the greatest genius on our planet know equally nothing compared to what there is to be known. There are two kinds of people on earth, those who think they know everything and those who know enough to know they know nothing.

The story in John 2 strikes me as one of those times when one just needs to throw out all common sense and human wisdom and accept the sovereignty of our God.

When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

The words, “do whatever he tells you”… why have i never noticed that phrase before, it is so powerful. This is what i have learnt from Johns simple account of Jesus’ first miracle:

No matter what your brain says or what makes sense to you, do exactly as Jesus says. He knows what he’s doing, just listen and obey, you don’t have to waste sleep over how it defies the laws of physics (or Chemistry…. or whatever category this falls under). Our ways will always fall short. God’s way is the best.

Am i saying knowledge is useless? No. Am i saying it’s impossible to know anything about God. NO. I am saying that in our own strength, in our own human wisdom, we cannot fathom the greatness of God or the things that He does. 

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Tryin to Listen

People often say stuff. A whole lot of stuff. Everything they say and every word, gesture, tone, expression etc that they use, determines what message they are trying to convey. Some are good at it, and some are like me.
I’ve noticed how people can get so offended with one another by things that are said. If you’ve got close friends from other cultures or backgrounds or have been/are in a serious relationship, then I’m sure you know what I mean. I’m not even talking about people of different languages communication with one another, or emails or letters, I’m talking about face to face conversations. People really seem to struggle when it comes to communication, is it the communicators fault for not speaking in a way he can be understood, or the listeners fault for not trying to understand properly?

It’s only fair to ask that the listener actually tries to listen. What is the context? Who are we speaking to? What is their situation? Background? Ethnicity? Beliefs? Culture? Traditions? Everything plays a role in what we are trying to say, words are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m afraid your going to have to dig deeper to get the real picture.

Measure of Success?

How exactly does one measure success? Obviously when we arrive in heaven we’ll find out how successful we were, but here on earth, what yardstick can be used? Well, Luke 12:48b gets me thinking…
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Given much? Much what? Money/wealth, knowledge, wisdom, spiritual blessings, physical abilities…? What this verse seems to be saying, correct me if I’m wrong, is that what we are required to do in life is directly proportional to what we have been blessed with. For example:
Bob’s only skill is cleaning chimneys really darn well, for him to be successful in life one needs to measure how clean those chimneys are. Billy on the other hand has inherited a ton of wealth and is really smart. Success for him would mean utilising his wealth and brains to achieve proportionally more than what Bob did with the less glamorous skill of cleaning. Get what I’m sayin? So, if Bob’s chimneys are spotless and Billy has managed to maintain his current status of wealth. Then who’s more successful? Obviously everyone who see’s Billy will label him a ‘success’ and Bob a ‘failure’, but in reality it is the other way around. Bob has achieved all that he could, Billy did not move an inch.
So, to me the obvious conclusion to my initial question is: Success is directly proportional to our utilisation of what has been given to us. Yet somehow this definition feels incomplete, in-fact, i get the feeling that I’ve only scraped the surface of understanding true success…even so, the implications here for you and I are huge.