THE PRESSURE’S OFF 2 Corinthians 1:12-22
“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;” (v21)
(4) Further principle is this, strive not so much to succeed but to do the right thing. While this is primarily preventative rather than corrective, if put into practice, it may save us from unnecessary heartaches in the future. On a visit to the U.S.A. I addressed a group of ministers in Atlanta Georgia, on the theme of ‘Pitfalls in the Ministry.’ I told them about my own failures which amounted to a great many, and I said, “the lesson I have learn from my failures is that I don’t always have to succeed. I have to do the right thing under God’s guidance. I have to do the right thing under God’s guidance and leave success or failure in His hands. One of the ministers quietly said to me afterwards; “I’m regarded by my peers as one of the most successful ministers in my denomination. But today you have helped me overcome the greatest pressure in my life – the pressure to succeed. ‘In the early years of my ministry I was very success – oriented: when I succeeded, I felt good, and when I failed, I felt devastated. Then God seemed to whisper to me in one of my prayer times, “Are you willing to be a failure? The question so shocked me that it was a whole week before I could answer that question with a “Yes.” But when I did, I was instantly released from the two things that had crippled my life and ministry – the pressure to succeed and the fear of failure. From then on, what mattered to me was not succeeding or failing, but being true to Him. Success and failure are in His hands. I am not on the way to success. I am on the Way. There’s a difference.
PRAYER LINE: Father, set me free today from these two crippling evils – the pressure to succeed and the fear of failure. Help me to do the right thing and to leave success or failure in Your hands. For Jesus sake. Amen (EDWJ)
______________________________________________________
Eyes of faith see God at work in everything.