Kingdom Success: What Could God Do by Dr. Ab Abercrombie
Through the years I have taken note of my fluid and changing definition of success. When I was a young child, pleasing others seemed to be my goal, and I especially wanted my parent’s approval for the things I did. Their evaluation was the only measuring stick I had. If they were happy with me, then I was a success.
By middle school I had discovered music and sports along with the recognition of others for accomplishments in each. The spirit of competition emerged and I quickly moved toward an orientation of “winning and losing” as I approached activates in my life. My parent’s approval was still important, but I now viewed it as much more “conditional” in its nature. My father seemed more excited when I won “first chair” status in the trumpet section or when I made the starting lineup on the football team. Success, I determined, was much sweeter in the winner’s circle.
High school brought the acute awareness of friends, females, and fun. By this time, my parent’s approval was the antithesis of success. If they liked it, there must be something wrong with it. I wanted popularity, recognition, fellowship, and good times. If I was connected and included in “the group,” this was my greatest achievement. I still loved competition and wanted to win, but not at the cost of my inner circle.
After winning an athletic scholarship to college I now focused on the next level of accomplishment. By this time my identity was that of a “jock.” I loved being on the team, standing out, and being something special. I was known by the number on my jersey and my accomplishments on the field. I guess that identity would have sustained me longer if only I hadn’t been such a “flop” at the collegiate level. In college the winner’s circle is pretty small and needless to say, I was well beyond the outer rim.
Since I had built my entire reputation as #75, there had to be a reorientation. “Winning,” to coin a phrase, “isn’t everything.” I swallowed hard, looked around, and decided I needed to re-invent myself. I surmised that if I wasn’t going to be an All-American, I’d better be smart and make a lot of money. So an “A” student I became, graduate school I pursued, a doctorate I received, and a private practice I built.
I was educated; I owned my own business; I had a beautiful wife; a baby daugther; So I decided I needed to work harder; build more business; hire associates and dominate the market. I worked 50, 60, 70 hours a week. But the harder I pressed, the greater my desperation and pain. I had spent the past 35 years of my life chasing the world and alas, the world had won. My proclaimed victory had in fact become my greatest defeat.
My call to reality came from the Gospel of Matthew, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (16:26)
I had accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 17 years of age. I knew the truth for years but failed to apply it to my life. When I was grasping for answers in college, I came to a critical point. I felt God call me into the ministry and knew in my heart that I should transfer to a Christian university that had recruited me. But instead of yielding to my identity as a “new creation” I sought out the wisdom of the world; I embraced its definition of success; and I proceeded to run from God for over 15 years.
Imagine what God could do with my athletic drive and desire to win. The Apostle Paul wrote with an understanding of competition and victory, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24).
The key here is the prize one seeks to obtain. While I was chasing after earthly reward and recognition, neither of which will endure, Paul encourages the believer to pursue an everlasting outcome for his labor by answering God’s call, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
Imagine what God could do with my academic prowess and drive for education. Paul counseled his student Timothy to prepare himself for the work of the Lord, “Do your best present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Approved means “accepted and pleasing” to God. He is pleased when we devote ourselves to the “word of truth”; to understanding it fully; and to apply it correctly. When I directed my life toward the world and away from God, I resisted the course of learning He had prescribed and embraced the counsel of man. God tells us in Proverbs 1:5, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.”
Imagine what God could do with my work ethic, my energy, and my willingness to toil for long hours. Until my rededication to Christ, all of my hard work had been in service of the self and in pursuit of the world’s approval. If only I had acted with the same zeal for God’s favor.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).
When I realized that my citizenship, my inheritance, and my rewards lie in Heaven, my sense of responsibility shifted from the immediate to the eternal. Building “treasure in Heaven” comes only through the submission of the self, to the call of the Father. It is a call that is answered out of love and surrender to the work He has defined for each of us.
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Imagine what God could do with a submitted sinner like me…
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