She presses down on the plastic frog…
Aims it carefully…
Releases her finger…
And shoots the frog into the plastic pond.
“I did it!” she cries.
“I won!”
Success.
He sings quietly as he plays…
“Da da da da da da da…”
Recognize the song?
I didn’t think so.
You’d have to hear the rhythm.
He’s hasn’t mastered all the words to the ABC song…
But he’s got the rhythm.
“Good job!”
He smiles.
Success.
We learn early that success comes from mastering the world around us…
Maybe that’s why it’s hard to believe the greatest success comes from the greatest surrender.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mark 8:35
We learn success is about the things we acquire…
Forgetting what happens to the things of this earth…
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal… Matthew 6:19
We strive and work and wear ourselves out for mastery of things…
While Jesus calls us to surrender and find rest in Him…
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
To surrender our bodies…
…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God… Romans 12:1
To surrender our hearts and minds and souls…
“…love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37
Knowing true success does not lie in this world…
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul…? Matthew 16:26
Knowing true success is found in His kingdom alone…
…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33
Knowing true success is found only in God’s gift of grace…
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
