Failure and success both comprise three steps, but three steps in opposite directions.
I like to be different sometimes. Actually, I’m different most of the time but I can’t help that. That’s how I was born.
Everyone in the world bombards you with success recipes. “Do this and you’ll be rich!”, “Do that and women will love you!” “Do this and your dog will like you, even lick you occasionally.” (For this last one, you can tie a beef steak around your neck).
Success!
So, to be different, I’m going to tell you how to be a failure. Actually, this is God’s formula and I just swiped it.
Psalms one lets us in on these failure secrets:â€How to fall flat in three easy steps.â€Â Put simply you walk, then stand, then sit.
The loser takes advice from those who don’t love God and against the ways of God. He walks in the counsel of the wicked. (Ps. 1:1) He lives by the beer-commercial worldview that says, “You only go around once so grab for all the gusto you can get.” And, “Ah, it don’t get no better than this.” And, “I love you man.” (I’m not sure that last one belongs, and if you remember all those slogans you’ve been watching too many football games.)
The un-blessed man walks by an erroneous way of seeing life and follows counsel from those who perceive life that way.
Walking like this will slow you down until you’re just standing around and you’ll get into things and hang out with people who encourage you to do stupid stuff. The Bible calls that sin — simply doing what the Lord told you not to do, or not doing what He told you to do. This loser “stands in the way of sinners.”
After taking all this bad advice and running with the wrong crowd, he finds himself sitting around. He constantly criticizes others and thinks he knows how the world is. He’s the smartest guy in the world. He looks down on others but actually he’s just sitting around, charging along at 100 miles per hour towards a train wreck.
We used to say, “He’s cruisin’ for a bruisin’.”
Now it’s easy to point out these faults in others, but am I like this in any way? Who am I listening to? Am I making decisions based on God’s wisdom revealed in His Word or simply whatever the politically-accepted truth of today obliges me to believe? Be careful with this second policy because “right†changes often if you follow it. You have to constantly get up-dates to see what you’re supposed to think now.
Do I constantly criticize others and always think I know better? You don’t? Ask someone who knows you well and will be honest with you. A lot of us would be surprised at the answer.
Success
So, there it is. If you want to be a success at failure you “walk,â€, then “stand,†then “sit.â€
“Umm, David,” you say, “That’s all well and fine but I’d kind of like to know how to succeed in my life.”
Why didn’t you say so? Watchman Nee wrote a book with the success formula embedded in the title, “Sit, Stand, Walk.”
The winner realizes that the strength for a victorious life doesn’t lie within himself but in what Jesus has done on the Cross. He puts his faith in Christ for salvation, for strength to live, for help in everyday needs. A person who is seated is not working, he’s resting. And we’re resting in what Jesus has done for us, not trying to madly work to win something that’s already been won at the Cross.
” He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” (Ephesians 2:6, The Message).
But, the winner doesn’t just sit there. At the same time he’s sitting, he’s standing. Try that sometime.
The winner has made up his mind that he’s not giving up. He’s done all his preparation. After that you’re going to have to kill him to drive him away from the truth and his love for the Lord.
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Eph. 6:13, NKJV)
But it’s more than that. This champion’s not just sitting and standing, he’s walking: walking in good works (Eph. 2:10), walking worthily (4:1), walking in love (Eph. 5:2), walking as a child of light (5:8), and walking wisely (5:15). Paul evidently liked to walk and he encourages us not only to stand but to put boots on what we believe and walk–helping, lifting, loving, serving Him and those around us.
So the loser ‘walks’, ‘stands’ and ‘sits’ and the winner ‘sits’, ‘stands’ and ‘walks’. Two different ways of living life. Two different outcomes. Are you living to be a loser or a winner?
(For those industrious ones among us, the winner also ‘runs.’ “Why didn’t you put those verses in this Coffee Stain, David.†You lazy rascal. I’m not going to do everything for you. Get at it yourself!)
Hummm …
“Your children may not remember everything you say… but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.†Rachelle Gardner
Smile
When people ask me why I don’t have a tattoo I ask them, “Would you put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari?”
A little girl asked her mom, “Why does Daddy always bring work home?â€
Her upbeat mom answered, “Oh, Daddy has so much work to do that he can’t get it all done at the office.â€
And the child said, “Why don’t they just put him in a slower group?â€
Dave Stone