The Challenge of Performance

We are brought up to aspire and to go for success in life. Of itself there is nothing wrong with either aspiration or success. The challenge however is what success can do to someone who cannot handle it well. Even King Solomon who possessed great wisdom and wealth allowed himself to be derailed through his obsession with women - all 1000 of them! It is sad to see successful people become derailed because their character has not caught up with their achievements. Every day we hear of well known sports people, business people and community leaders who stumble because they were not ready to handle success.


Godly success is always tied to Godly character. The Holy Spirit is always wanting to grow us into the shape of Jesus Christ so that we will become conformed to His character. Success is becoming like Him. The apostle Paul said "I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus... and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him not having my own righteousness... but that which is through faith in Christ..." (Phil.3:8-10) Paul was in effect saying that he wanted above all else to display the SOURCE more than the RESOURCE. Trouble happens when we want to display resources instead of the source. This is the trap of success.


Another trap with regard to success is that we can easily be misled by the lie that somehow we must meet certain standards in order to feel good about ourselves. Behind this lie is the fear of failure. The fear of failure will actually inhibit people from taking risks and 'having a go'. It will kill creativity. In fact it will diminish what we can do with the resources that we already have. When we realise that our sense of true worth comes from who and what God says we are, we will be set free to live and to be productive with what we have. When we are enamoured with the fact that we so loved because He has made us worthy (righteous), we will want to live for Him. We will even dare to risk.


When we realise that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works ... that we should walk in them", we will be both content and fulfilled. We will be grateful and generous. We will be able to live for Him, no longer striving to get acceptability through our performance. It was always His performance in the first place, that secured our real worth.












This blog is based on a message called "The Challenge of Performance" by Ross Smith on 18/10/15 at The Vine church, Logan City, Queensland, Australia. The full message can be accessed by podcast from www.thevine.org.au/teaching