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Going From Success To Significance

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Why do I always think of the perfect thing to say after the opportunity is past? With this being the Christmas season, there should be many situations when I can say something about the real meaning of Christmas. How can I be ready and prepared to share what Christ means to me?

Advice: Our biggest challenge during the Christmas season is to not get so caught up in the frenzy and hectic hurry that we “miss the opportunities” that are surely all around us! Let’s remember that for some, Christmas will be the only time during the year they hear or think about Jesus as they sing the old carols of Christ’s birth or read a card. For others, Christmas is the loneliest or most depressing time of the year when the need for a friend or family is most keenly felt.

Instead of looking for the opportunity, why not make the opportunity? Here are a few of the great suggestions Chuck Swindoll mentions in “A Christian’s Christmas”:

• Mend a quarrel
• Seek out a forgotten friend
• Express appreciation
• Make or bake something for someone else
• Release a grudge
• Smile. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more.
• Be gentle and patient with an angry person
• Listen
• Speak kindly to a stranger
• Enter into another’s sorrow
• Take a walk with a friend

As you “make the opportunity” and God opens hearts, be quick to share how Christ is working in your life.

I Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

Adapted from The Finishing Touch by Charles R. Swindoll, p.606. Copyright 1994, Word Publishing, Dallas.

How can I express love to my family so they will not only know they are loved, but will “feel” loved?

Advice: Two excellent resources that I’ve recently come across are:

1. How To Say I Love You? (Video) Gary Ezzo
2. The Five Love Languages (Book) Gary Chapman

Their thesis is that all of us have a primary love language and we “feel” most loved when love is expressed to us in that way. The five love languages they identify are:

1. Physical touch
2. Acts of service
3. Quality time
4. Words of encouragement
5. Gift giving

After listening to the video, I began to make application to my own children. The video also explained to me why my children act the way they do. I have a 13-year-old boy who always wants to go with me on the most mundane errands and being a quieter child, it’s his opportunity to chirp away about things he’s thinking about – quality time. My 15-year-old daughter has a higher need for hugs and physical touch than the rest of us. My youngest is incredibly touched by receiving gifts. By expressing love in the primary love language of your children or mate, you will help them “feel” loved!

Check out these resources, I’m sure you’ll find them very interesting!

What do you do when the roof falls in? I hate failure and disappointment. Why does God allow these things to happen to me if He’s really in control?

Advice: God often allows failure to point us to one critical truth… we can’t live the Christian life on our own. Throughout our lives, there will be times when God will place us in situations that will cause us to realize our insufficiency and make us depend on Him. Only Jesus has lived perfectly the Christian life and if anything of eternal value is going to be accomplished through my life, He is going to have to do it!

IICor. 4:17,18 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Earlier in this book (1:8) Paul says, “we were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.” When Paul speaks of “light and momentary troubles”, we know that actually his trouble was severe, BUT in comparison to what was being gained and accomplished in his life and ministry – it was insignificant. In fact, he says, it “far outweighs them all.” What a perspective! How do I get it?

Recognizing that God has allowed or placed me in the situations I’m in to add to my character something of eternal value is the first step to dealing positively with failure or disappointment. I need to believe that this particular situation is His special way of performing His refining work in my character and accomplishing in me that which will far outlast what is presently disappointing me. He is using this situation to teach me how to walk by faith and to equip me to make eternal investments in the lives of others. Romans 8:29 clearly states that every situation has the effect of molding us into Christ’s image and ICor. 1:4 explains how our ministry is made more effective by experiencing trouble! Circumstances are not out of control but are used for our good in the hands of a loving God!

We become bitter to the degree we don’t give thanks to God. Purpose to focus on what He has given rather than what is gone. Choose with your will, not your feelings, to form a habit of giving thanks often remembering that He is in control and is working in your life to produce that which is precious and which will not fade away but will last for eternity.

What do you do when the roof falls in?

God often allows failure to point us to one critical truth…we can’t live the Christian life on our own. Throughout our lives, there will be times when God will place us in situations that will cause us to realize our insufficiency and make us depend on Him. Only Jesus has lived perfectly the Christian life and if anything of eternal value is going to be accomplished through my life, He is going to have to do it!

2 Cor. 4:17,18 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Earlier in this book (1:8) Paul says, “we were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.” When Paul speaks of “light and momentary troubles”, we know that actually his trouble was severe, BUT in comparison to what was being gained and accomplished in his life and ministry – it was insignificant. In fact, he says, it “far outweighs them all.” What a perspective! How do I get it?

Recognizing that God has allowed or placed me in the situations I’m in to add to my character something of eternal value is the first step to dealing positively with failure or disappointment. I need to believe that this particular situation is His special way of performing His refining work in my character and accomplishing in me that which will far outlast what is presently disappointing me. He is using this situation to teach me how to walk by faith and to equip me to make eternal investments in the lives of others. Romans 8:29 clearly states that every situation has the effect of molding us into Christ’s image and ICor. 1:4 explains how our ministry is made more effective by experiencing trouble! Circumstances are not out of control but are used for our good in the hands of a loving God!

We become bitter to the degree we don’t give thanks to God. Purpose to focus on what He has given rather than what is gone. Choose with your will, not your feelings, to form a habit of giving thanks often remembering that He is in control and is working in your life to produce that which is precious and which will not fade away but will last for eternity.

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