Life as a River
"When Counting is Wrong"
Part 3
"We live in a performance based culture and the American church all too often operates the same way. The success of the church is measured by counting - counting the attendance, counting the offering, counting the conversions, etc. But may I suggest that not only is this not a true measure of performance for God's Kingdom, it may actually make God angry." - Jay Link
Last week we posted the second of three parts from an article by Jay Link, entitled:
"When Counting is Wrong."
If you want to download the full article you can do so at: Download pdf article.
TODAY - PART 3
"When Counting is Wrong."
If you want to download the full article you can do so at: Download pdf article.
TODAY - PART 3
Prideful Mistake #3 - Achievement
(Over the past three postings I have shared Jay Link’s article: “When our counting is wrong”. Jay concludes his article with the following key question.)
"Do you want to avoid wrong counting? Remember these three powerful truths.
If we fully embrace these three immutable truths, we will never find ourselves even tempted to count. We will instead find ourselves feeling content, secure and very much at peace. Sounds like the way God intended for us to live, doesn’t it?
"Do you want to avoid wrong counting? Remember these three powerful truths.
- Our God owns it all. So, there is nothing for us to count.
- Our security is in our Provider and not in our provisions.
- Our success is measured by who we become and not what we achieve.
If we fully embrace these three immutable truths, we will never find ourselves even tempted to count. We will instead find ourselves feeling content, secure and very much at peace. Sounds like the way God intended for us to live, doesn’t it?
Our Counting is Wrong
When it is Done to Measure
How Successful We Have Been
When it is Done to Measure
How Successful We Have Been
Recently I became painfully aware of just how guilty I, myself, have been of this kind of “success counting”. I am continually counting how many people visit my website each day. I count how many people are following me on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. I watch to see how many people actually read my newsletters. I keep count of how many of our studies we sell. And when the numbers were going up, my sense of success and well-being go up with them. And when for whatever the reason the numbers were going down, I would find myself emotionally going down with them.
I had inadvertently fallen prey to one of Satan’s greatest lies in our culture – that being “success in life is best measured by counting.”
I was recently visiting with a young man who was telling me about a couple of his friends whom he thought had become really successful. When I quizzed him on how he determined their success, he gushed, “You should see the cars they drive!” Listen, if we try to measure our success in life by how big, how much, how new, how expensive, or how plush, our counting is always going to be wrong.
True life-success cannot be counted using numbers. As the old saying goes, “You don’t want to spend your life climbing the ladder of success only to realize that once you finally reach the top that it is leaning against the wrong wall.” When David tried to count his success, many people besides himself suffered great loss because of it. The same can be true for us if we try to count our success in the same way. How many countless marriages have failed, children have been lost, friendships ended, health sacrificed, and moral failures have resulted because people were obsessed with counting what was not a legitimate measure of success. " - Jay Link
I had inadvertently fallen prey to one of Satan’s greatest lies in our culture – that being “success in life is best measured by counting.”
I was recently visiting with a young man who was telling me about a couple of his friends whom he thought had become really successful. When I quizzed him on how he determined their success, he gushed, “You should see the cars they drive!” Listen, if we try to measure our success in life by how big, how much, how new, how expensive, or how plush, our counting is always going to be wrong.
True life-success cannot be counted using numbers. As the old saying goes, “You don’t want to spend your life climbing the ladder of success only to realize that once you finally reach the top that it is leaning against the wrong wall.” When David tried to count his success, many people besides himself suffered great loss because of it. The same can be true for us if we try to count our success in the same way. How many countless marriages have failed, children have been lost, friendships ended, health sacrificed, and moral failures have resulted because people were obsessed with counting what was not a legitimate measure of success. " - Jay Link
RIVERS NOT RESERVOIRS
7982 Hillcrest Trail
Jonesboro, Georgia 30236
BLOG: www.hisrivers.org
EMAIL: his.rivers@gmail.com
7982 Hillcrest Trail
Jonesboro, Georgia 30236
BLOG: www.hisrivers.org
EMAIL: his.rivers@gmail.com
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