Have you ever achieved something and sat back and thought to yourself, “I did that”? Maybe you look at your family, and think, they’ve turned out well. Perhaps you look around your home, and think, I built that, or I’ve decorated that well, and made it look good. Maybe you completed a project at work, and your quietly pleased with all your hard work.
It’s easy to look at something we’ve achieved and forget how many people helped us get there. We forget the opportunities that we’ve had, that perhaps others have missed out on. Even where we born, the time we were born, and to whom we were born can play a huge part in our success.
Welcome along to the Battle Drill Daily Devotional. Thanks for joining me today. This is day one of our series for this week, where we are exploring ways we can measure a good life.
Our culture tells us that our goal in life is to be successful. And that success is more often than not defined in financial terms. The single, most important goal in life, many people believe, is to earn more and more. As followers of Jesus, we are tempted to join in.
When Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, he knew they felt the pressure to adapt to their environment and join in the corruption and sin around them. In 1 Corinthians 4:7, he challenges them:
“What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?”
Paul reminds us that we have nothing that hasn’t first been received by us as a gift from God. There is no such thing as a self-made person in God’s economy. Sociologist Mark Rank points to what he calls the lottery of birth. Our lives are shaped by forces we cannot choose and can never predict – illness, job loss, poverty, opportunity, and even survival.
He’s almost right of course. From a Christian perspective, it is God who has sovereign control over the turning points that define our lives, not mere chance. This doesn’t diminish what we achieve in life, or the success we enjoy. Instead, it puts our achievements into perspective. We can be grateful for all the opportunities that God gives us. We can value our hard work, but also acknowledge that God gives us people and moments that help us get to a place where we feel successful. And perhaps, most importantly, it helps us to be grateful for our own achievements and humble towards those whose circumstances are harder than ours.
As Paul reminds the Philippian church in Philippians 2:3-4:
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
So, when someone in your family achieves something this week, celebrate it. Congratulate them on the hard work they put in. But maybe you could also take the opportunity to remind them of some of the people who helped them achieve it – their teachers, their friends, their colleagues. Perhaps you could acknowledge some of the opportunities they have – a loving and safe family, a warm home with food on the table, access to the internet – that others may not.
And if you have a moment, why not jot down someone who has helped you become the person you are today? The Battle Drill Daily Devotional app has a section for journaling, if that would help. And why not mention them by name in the comments. We can celebrate those who have contributed to our successes together.
Let’s pray together.
Father God. Thank you for all you have given us in life – our circumstances, people and situations that have helped us along the way. Help us to see that all we have is a gift from you – even the ability to achieve success. Help us to show compassion to those around us whose circumstances are very different to ours. Help us do what we can to make their lives better too. Amen.
Join me again tomorrow for day two of our series – Stop Climbing Somebody Else’s Success Ladder – as we look at how comparison can make climbing the ladder worse.
I’ll see you then.