Friday, July 28, 2006
The Principle of ENOUGH
One of the most puzzling statistical anomolies in this nation is the definition of poverty - it is simply a certain percentage of the lowest income hourseholds based on an income distribution. Thus many of those in the nation that live "below the poverty line" own homes, automobiles, multiple televisions, and other apparent luxuries. Certainly these people have enough, and yet we consider them impoverished.
iMonk wrote recently
To my mind, genuine success is "enough" - whether it be financially, or in terms of ministry. Financially, I have personally been richly blessed, I have far more than "enough". Now statistically, my wife and I do make significantly more than the national median income, and being childless we have quite a bit more disposal income than similarly situated people, but statistically, we are also far from "rich". In point of fact, I have been told that my business is a "failure" because I have not grown it at an adequate pace. Yet I wake up everyday thanking God for my plenty, but most importantly, for my enough. Every time I lose a contract, every time the job is awarded elsewhere, I remind myself there is enough, there is even plenty.
I do not mean to hold myself up as an example, only to illustrate, I am far from perfect at this, it is simply the standard to which I try and hold myself.
When it comes to ministry, the same applies. Anyone who has ever aspired to preaching imagines preaching to thousands. I have never quite reached that level, though I have been close, and yet it was a hollow experience in comparison to many one-on-one conversations I have had where I got immediate feedback and knowledge that God had used me to touch that person. The ministry to the one is "enough" - in fact it is riches.
This has ended up a far more personal reflection than I had intended, I guess that is the nature of the message - having enough, doing enough IS SUCCESS. More than enough is pure blessing. That is an message that cannot really be analyzed or broken down, it is one of those things that has to be written on your heart by the Holy Spirit. It is one of those things you have to let the Holy Spirit teach you, daily.
Related Tags: poverty, success, enough, satisfaction, contentment
iMonk wrote recently
When the church is willing to be UNsuccessful, to lose status in the eyes of the priesthood of success and be judged irrelevant by those who continually spin the images and essentials of success, we will continue to be deeply influenced by the idols of success we have allowed into the very center of the house of God.I understand his point, but I think it could be refined a little. We don't need to be "UNsuccessful" we just need to gain an appriciation of what genuine success is.
To my mind, genuine success is "enough" - whether it be financially, or in terms of ministry. Financially, I have personally been richly blessed, I have far more than "enough". Now statistically, my wife and I do make significantly more than the national median income, and being childless we have quite a bit more disposal income than similarly situated people, but statistically, we are also far from "rich". In point of fact, I have been told that my business is a "failure" because I have not grown it at an adequate pace. Yet I wake up everyday thanking God for my plenty, but most importantly, for my enough. Every time I lose a contract, every time the job is awarded elsewhere, I remind myself there is enough, there is even plenty.
I do not mean to hold myself up as an example, only to illustrate, I am far from perfect at this, it is simply the standard to which I try and hold myself.
When it comes to ministry, the same applies. Anyone who has ever aspired to preaching imagines preaching to thousands. I have never quite reached that level, though I have been close, and yet it was a hollow experience in comparison to many one-on-one conversations I have had where I got immediate feedback and knowledge that God had used me to touch that person. The ministry to the one is "enough" - in fact it is riches.
This has ended up a far more personal reflection than I had intended, I guess that is the nature of the message - having enough, doing enough IS SUCCESS. More than enough is pure blessing. That is an message that cannot really be analyzed or broken down, it is one of those things that has to be written on your heart by the Holy Spirit. It is one of those things you have to let the Holy Spirit teach you, daily.
Related Tags: poverty, success, enough, satisfaction, contentment
