What Defines Success To You?

Posted on by Joshua Huffman

I came across a very lovely bible verse that I am sure we have all heard before.

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God!..

I was looking through four different translations of this verse, and throughout all four translations the verse starts exactly the same. “Be still, and know that I am God!” This verse is so simple, but powerful.

Lets go back a few verses though to the beginning of the chapter.

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

I love that, “We will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!” Why? Because “God is our refuge and strength always read to help in times of trouble.”

We so often forget God is here to help us. Our walls shake and we panic. We all do it. Sometimes it is not because we don’t trust the Lord, it is because we want to take on our tasks on our own and we realize that on our own, we can’t do it! We forget we have a God that is beyond all measurements and try to take on the world by ourselves. We see others taking on the world by their selves and think we can do the same. But as they can’t see your struggles, you can’t really see theirs.

Like you, they put up an appearance like they’ve got it all under control.

But what about those that do have it under control, if they can have all that success why can’t I? Am I a failure for falling short, for not being good enough? Well lets look at my favorite company, Apple. Everybody knows it is because of Steve Jobs that Apple achieved it’s level of success, but did you know that many years ago Apple actually fired Steve Jobs. Luckily Steve didn’t give up to his shortcomings then and many years later was brought back to Apple. Did you know Michael Jordan only played JV basketball in highschool? Good thing that didn’t stop him! Or Thomas Edison when he failed many times before being able to invent the light bulb said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

We are going to have shortcomings. Ask any famous person about what brought them success, and they will point you to their shortcomings and their weaknesses. This is where learning begins.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Back to our original phrase. Know that God is God, know what God can know. Think deeply about this. What are His limitations. Ask yourself, what can’t God do for you? Know who He is and what His character is made up of.

Let’s learn to be still. In times of joy. In times of sorrow. In times of good. In times of bad. In times of pain. In times of stress. It doesn’t matter what time it is, be still, rejoice that you have God to go through those times with.

Steve Jobs might have gone on to lead Apple to much success. Michael Jordan may have gone on to win MVP and arguable the greatest basketball player to live. But without God, what does that success mean? At the end of the day, at the end of your life, when that last breath is taken, what does all that mean? Nothing. The point is, leaning on your own strengths will lead you to worldly success, but if you lean on God for your strength, your success will go beyond this earth and give you eternal life with Christ.

“Be Still and know that I am God.” He is where true strength is found. Give up your cross to Him daily, and know through the good and bad, He is there. Through the pain, He is still there. Give Him your cross to bear, and He will help you through anything.

The Ugly Truth

Posted on by Joshua Huffman

I wanted to rehit a past proverb today.

Proverbs3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

Something I have been thinking about lately is if I were Jesus, how would I have been wanted to be born into this world? I think I would want to be born into a rich family, that way I could afford all the modern technologies so I could evangelize efficiently. I would have wanted to be good looking, maybe not the best looking, but good enough to be noticed and respected. I would definitely want to be accepted by others. I would want a lot of twitter, facebook, and blog followers. I would want a big church, or at least some sort of central location. And the list goes on.

But you know, that’s not how it was. Jesus was born to a poor family, in a town where nothing good comes from. In terms of his physical appearance:

Isaiah 53:2

..He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Jesus was not accepted by others

Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

There was nothing attractive or desirable about this man. He wasn’t given this huge platform to work from, in fact He didn’t have anything on His side! The odds were against Him.

But yet all the time in our life, we tell God “If only I had more money,” “If only I had more time,” “If only I had the newest iPhone,” “If only I had more blog views,” “If only I had more twitter followers,” “If only I had more friends,” “If only I had that job, or that promotion,” “If only….” Our “If only…”s and our excuses could go on forever.

Jesus did have one thing on His side. He had God, and He trusted in God. Look at what Jesus accomplished because of God. He changed the world. He didn’t have all the qualifications what we believe we need to share Christ to others, He just had God.

To take this one step further, we often think of ourselves as God. Not intentionally, but we feel like we know what’s best for us and we feel like we know what has to happen in order for us to follow Christ best.

The ugly truth is, you don’t know what’s best for you. How can we question our Creator who made the universe and everything in it. The God who made you, science, and math. The Father who loves you unconditionally, even despite all of your wrongs. Our God is so big, how can we even begin to understand what is best for us and question the circumstances we are in?

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