Content or Complacent?

The Bible presents contentment as a good thing. It is something learned, though, and doesn't come naturally. Paul once received a generous offering from his friends in Philippi, and in thanking them said, "I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances" (Philippians 4:11, The Message). The operative word here is "learned." Contentment doesn't come easy when there's much to complain about and a lot you would change if you had the power to do so.

There's also something that looks like contentment but isn't. Complacency is ugly -- it's not resting in the Lord, it's snoring! While contentment is desire under surrender, complacency is desire under siege. A. W. Tozer said,

Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must

be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He

waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so

very long, in vain.

Are you content or complacent?

Be A Difference Maker!

Leadership expert John Maxwell says that the average person influences 10,000 people - either for good or bad - in the course of a lifetime.  That means all of us are difference-makers.

Miss Amy Whittington would certainly qualify as one who directly and indirectly influenced thousands of people.  At age 83 she was still teaching a Sunday school class in Sault St. Marie, Michigan.  She learned that the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago was offering a seminar to teach people how to be more effective teachers.  She literally saved her pennies until she had the necessary money to buy a bus ticket.  She rode the bus all night to attend the seminar to learn new methods and procedures so she could do a better job.

One of the professors, impressed with her age, enthusiasm, and the fact that she had ridden the bus all night to attend the seminar, engaged her in conversation.  He asked her what age group she taught and how many were in her class.  When she responded that she taught a class of junior high school boys and there were 13 in the class, the professor asked how many kids belonged to the church.  Miss Whittington replied, "Fifty." The professor, astonished that this little lady taught over 25% of the church youth, responded, "With that kind of record we should have you teach us how to teach."  How right he was!

People who are already good at what they do are far more likely to work at getting better than are those who are marginal performers.  What kind of impact did Miss Amy Whittington have? Eighty-six of those boys she taught in her Sunday school class through the years ended up in the ministry! Can't you just imagine the thousands of people she directly and indirectly impacted for good?  She truly was a difference-maker. 

You are too ... so make it a "good" difference!

Significant?

"Something's wrong with your work." A member of the denomination's hierarchy delivered the critical review to a faithful old pastor during a prescribed periodic evaluation. "Only one convert has been added to your church this year, and he is just a boy," the denominational official said.

Later that same day, the pastor languished alone in his study, praying with a heavy heart, when someone walked up behind him. Turning around, he saw the boy - his only convert that year.

"Pastor," he asked, "do you think I could become a preacher or a missionary?"

That boy was Robert Moffatt - the missionary who later opened Africa to the gospel. Years later, Robert addressed a group in London, where a young doctor heard him say, "I have seen in the morning sun the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been." That young doctor, deeply moved by Moffatt's message, himself sailed for Africa in 1840, where he labored for more than thirty years. His name: David Livingstone.

Back to that pastor...Was he a "success"? Was he "significant"?

I guess it all depends on whether you're adding or multiplying.  On a surface level, at least in that particular year, he had precious little to advertise statistically. Fortunately, God keeps a different scorebook.

When John Wesley died, all he left were two silver spoons, his glasses, preaching bands, cloak, prayer book and the usual odds and ends common to an elderly person. But fortunately, his writing had also been preserved. Today his journals, letters, essays, sermons, and tracts are available for all subsequent generations. And, I almost forgot...he left for his legacy the Methodist Church!

My responsibility and yours is to leave a heritage of faithfulness. God will keep score and take care of the results ... if we'll only trust Him with them. Can you do that? If so, then a great harvest awaits you, even if it seems obscure and unimportant to the world.

Leave a legacy!

The Wellspring of All Learning

"Show me how You work, God;

   School me in Your ways."

Psalm 25:4, The Message

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts"

John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach

A young man often had the occasion to walk by the home of a well-respected professor in his community. He noticed that most of the time as he passed the professor's home, whether early in the morning or late at night, he could see the professor poring over books in his study.

One day he had an opportunity to talk to the professor and he asked him, "Doctor, what keeps you studying? You are at the top in your field -- a professor with many opportunities to speak at major universities. Yet, you never seem to stop learning."

The professor replied, "Son, I would rather have my students drink from a running stream than from a stagnant pool."

The wonderful thing about the Word of God is that no matter how many times a person reads it, there's always something new to learn from it. Take a daily drink from the wellspring of all learning and wisdom -- the Bible. Its truths will make you a champion!

The Main Thing

When multimillionaire financier J.P. Morgan died in 1913, he left a will that contained 10,000 words and thirty seven articles. During his lifetime, Morgan made countless financial transactions, some of which impacted the economic equilibrium of the entire world. Yet in Article 1 of his will, he wrote about the one transaction he considered supreme above all others:

    "I commit my soul into the hands of my Saviour, in full confidence that having redeemed it and washed it in His most precious blood He will present it faultless before the throne of my heavenly Father; and I entreat my children to maintain and defend, at all hazard, and at any cost of personal sacrifice, the blessed doctrine of the complete atonement for sin through the blood of Jesus Christ, once offered, and through that alone."

Although one of the most significant men in history, Morgan had the right priorities - the right purpose. So as you begin your week today, I challenge you to be busy about the right things, for the right purpose, and you will get the right results! Remember to keep the MAIN THING the MAIN THING!