13 Oct Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way (Because Tenacity is a Necessity to Fulfill your Destiny) Part 22
Over the last few months we have shared with you our key scripture for this series: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind” (II Tim. 1:7). We then began to share with you “10 Truths Towards Tenacity”:
- Tenacious people don’t’ waste time feeling sorry for themselves (Rom. 8:31).
- Tenacious people don’t hand the reigns of their emotional well-being to another (Phil. 4:4)
- Tenacious people embrace change (Ps. 55:19)
- Tenacious people don’t waste energy on things they can’t control (Phil. 2:14).
- Tenacious people are not people pleasers (Prov. 29:25).
- Tenacious people are courageous (Joshua 1:6-9).
- Tenacious people let go of the past (Phil. 3:13-14)
- Tenacious people never resent others’ success (Rom. 12:15).
Here the Bible tells us, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” Please allow me to share with you “Four Reasons to Reject Resentment”:
1.) Jealousy is mediocrity’s tribute to the successful. Don’t resent the successful! Emulate the successful! You can never become what you resent.
Now let’s continue this week with…
2.) People have a much easier time “weeping” than they do “rejoicing”.
A number of years ago my wife and I were walking on a deserted beach a great distance from the nearest lifeguard. Suddenly my wife spotted a person about 75 yards out in the ocean who was crying out for help as she was drowning. When I was between 15 and 19 I was a lifeguard for four years, but this had been many years ago! However, I was the girl’s only opportunity to live. So I swam out to the woman and as I did I was trying to remember all I was trained to do as a lifeguard. The first thing they teach you to do when rescuing a drowning swimmer is to calm them. A drowning person’s natural reaction is to jump on their rescuer out of a sheer sense of panic. When this occurs you can very easily have a double drowning on your hands. From a great distance this person we spotted looked to be quite small, but much to my chagrin as I swam to her, I discovered that she was a very large woman easily over 300 pounds. I gently calmed her and then swam her back to shore. By the time I had hauled her in I was pretty tired!
A couple of hours later the Lord spoke to my heart and asked me a very poignant question. He said, “When you saved that woman, you really liked that, didn’t you?” Now, I have discovered a long time ago that whenever God asks you a question He already knows the answer! (In the Garden of Eden God asked His creation, “Adam, where are you?” It’s not that He didn’t know, it’s that God wanted to show Adam…Adam.) However, anything He reveals, He heals! I replied honestly to God (I discovered a long time ago since God already knows the answer to His question, answer honestly!). “Yes, I did like it.” I had to admit that it made me feel quite proud of myself to rescue this woman. God then responded clearly to my heart and said, “Remember, there is only one Savior and you’re not Him.” God was trying to teach me a very significant lesson about ministry that I have never forgotten.
My point is this, it was easy for me to ride in on my spiritual white horse and white hat to save the day. It’s human nature to kind of “stick out our chest” and admire our own work. When we weep with them that weep it’s obvious that the person we are weeping with needs some sort of rescue. At times this will cause us to “ride” in as “Captain Charismatic” to save the day! If we are not cautious this can create a sense of spiritual smugness and superiority in us (see Gal. 6:1-5). We kind of like it when others are going through a hard time because it can make us feel better about ourselves. “Rejoicing with them that rejoice” can be a whole lot more difficult. When your Christian friend gets the promotion before you do, or when she gets that new house before you do, then we can see very quickly how truly mature that we really are!
3.) How we respond to others’ success declares our maturity more than how we respond to others’ failures.
4.) You are not a success until you raise up a successor!
Before we started Joy Church 12 years ago, I would travel and preach on many weekends after teaching at WCBI throughout the week. On occasion, I would take Rob Simms (our Youth Pastor here at Joy Church). He would do a youth event on Saturday night for the local church and then I would minister to the church on Sunday. Rob and I were ministering one weekend in East Tennessee and after my Sunday morning session at a church, this woman came up to me and said, “I was at the Saturday night session with your youth minister and of course, here today with you as you taught our church.” She went on to say, “You were good…but your youth pastor was better!” Now you would have thought this was a very insulting thing to say. However, nothing could be further from the truth. This was the greatest compliment she could have ever given me. You see, I had mentored Rob in ministry for years. You’re not a success until you raise up a successor!
Next week we will continue our series…