Today's Word

When we are young, we think we know a lot. We have been educated, formed relationships, getting on in our career and sometimes we feel we have achieved what most people would regard as ‘success’ and perhaps feel a bit proud. As we get older, we realise that we know very little and that any form of worldly success is most fragile and temporary and there are far more important successes in life that we have never achieved.

The one thing that we all need to find in life is spiritual security and satisfaction. We need to know that our sin has been forgiven and that our trust is firmly in God because of what Jesus Christ has done upon a cruel cross 2000+ years ago. That should be everyone’s main aim in this life because only when this happens can any form of true life success be found.

Saul of Tarsus had achieved great religious success in his life. He was a greatly respected Jewish scholar even as a young adult and could have gone on to even greater heights in his field. But one day, he met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and his whole life and ambitions changed. He became a true servant of God, changed his name to Paul and gave himself totally to serving his new Master, Jesus Christ and was greatly used to establish the early Christian church and his biblical letters are beyond valuation for those wanting to grow in Jesus Christ. He achieved such success as no other Christian has perhaps achieved since. Yet he could write these words, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”. 

That puts every ambition a success in life into its correct order. The only thing that mattered to Paul, and what should also matter to us, was being worthy in Jesus’ sight and his valuation of Jesus death and what that had done for him was all he cared about. Should not OUR main life ambition be anything other than that?

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church