"And all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished...And they understood none of these things." {#Lu 18:31,34}
God called Jesus Christ to what seemed unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called his disciples to see him put to death; he led every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. Jesus Christ’s life was an absolute failure from every standpoint but God’s. But what seemed failure from man’s standpoint was a tremendous triumph from God’s, because God’s purpose is never man’s purpose.
Quote from Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
Sometimes we fight hard against the prospect of being seen as failures in our ministry, or in our personal lives. The great magnetism of what would appear to be success as defined by men pulls strongly at us. We become caught in it's field of polarity. This world seeks to polarize us to it's standards of success, to the ideas of it's own appearances of greatness.
Meanwhile, the pull of the Holy Spirit seeks to take us further to a place where less of me exists and more of Him can be seen. God is not hung up on what appears to be my success in the eyes of men. He is hung up on my getting a right view of the successful obedience of Christ Jesus.
Jesus died with His followers scattered and hiding in fear. In the upper room a mere 120 gathered with any sort of hope. Where were the great crowds of His yesterdays? At His trial it is possible that the crowd crying out, "crucify him, crucify him," consisted of at least some of the ones who had eaten of the fish and loaves. One thing we know for certain, the miracle seekers of yesterdays did not join the 120 in the upper room to wait for the promise. Yet despite what appeared as absoulte failure to men, God the Father was well pleased with.
Jesus laid everything aside for the glory of the Father. He chose no reputation for Himself so that the reputation of God might not be sullied in any way.
Whose reputation are you and I living for?
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
