Saturday, May 24, 2014

Keep Growing



    Too many today just want to do enough to get by.  They don’t want to put in too much effort and “waste their lives away” with details.  I would estimate that more than half of the students in my college class are only interested in getting an “average” grade just so they can pass and get on with “more important / useful” subjects.  It seems their aim in life is to be “average” so they can expend most of their time on what they consider to be fun, advantageous, or appealing to their personal cravings.

     The following, borrowed from an old bulletin article, states my feelings on “being average” perfectly:

            Average means ‘run-of-the-mill; mediocre; a non-entity, or insignificant.’
            Being ‘average’ is to take up space for no purpose; to take a trip through life, but never pay the fare; no return of interest for God’s investment in you.
            Being ‘average’ is to pass one’s life away with time, rather than to pass one’s time away with life.  It’s to kill time, rather than to work it to death.
            To be ‘average’ is to be forgotten once you pass from this life.  The successful are remembered because they tried; but the ‘average,’ the silent majority, is forgotten because they ‘didn’t want to.’
            To be ‘average’ is to commit a great crime against yourself and against humanity.
            There is one thing good about being ‘average’ and ‘alive.’  We still have time to repent.”
Adapted from Ferman Carpenter

     I believe whole-heartedly that God did NOT create any of us to be “average.”  The commands to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28) bear this out implicitly.  So many Scriptures urge God’s people to keep growing in their faith and avoid becoming stagnant (average).  Peter’s NT letters go a long way toward informing us of Satan’s desire to “eat” those who are not being watchful (being average) and to insist on our need to continue adding to (building / growing) our faith (1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 1:3-9).

     Fight the urges Satan plants in your mind to “take it easy” or to “take a break and be average.”  That kind of thinking is fatal to your soul.  Keep moving; a moving target is harder to hit.  Keep growing; God will become dearer and His power stronger the more you get to know Him.  Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus; He will get you through life’s chaos.  Strive to be above-average and show everyone around you how a disciple of Christ overcomes the world (1 John 5:4-5) rather than just doing enough to get by.
Doug

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