Failure and Success

No man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail. No man is morally worthy of success in religious activities until he is willing that the honor of succeeding should go to another if God so wills.

Born After Midnight, 58.

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Failure and Success: The Scramble for Popularity

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds
of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly
glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.
–Matthew 5:11-12

Popular Judaism slew the prophets and crucified Christ. Popular
Christianity killed the Reformers, jailed the Quakers and drove John
Wesley into the streets. When it comes to religion, the crowds are
always wrong. At any time there are a few who see, and the rest are
blinded. To stand by the truth of God against the current religious
vogue is always unpopular and may be downright dangerous….

Christianity’s scramble for popularity today is an unconscious
acknowledgment of spiritual decline. Her eager fawning at the feet
of the world’s great is a grief to the Holy Spirit and an
embarrassment to the sons of God. The lick-spittle attitude of
popular Christian leaders toward the world’s celebrities would make
such men as Elijah or George Fox sick to the stomach….

Lot was a popular believer. He sat in the gates of Sodom. But when
trouble struck, he had to send quick for Abraham to get him out of
the jam. And where did they find Abraham? Out on the hillside, far
away from the fashionable crowds. It has always been so. For every
Elijah there have always been 400 popular prophets of Baal. For
every Noah there is always a vast multitude who will not believe
it is going to rain.

We are sent to bless the world, but never are we told to compromise
with it. The Next Chapter After the Last, 20-21.

""Lord, give me the spirit of Elijah; give me the faith of Noah.
Deliver me from the scramble for popularity and strengthen me to
serve alone, oblivious to the roar of the crowds. Amen.""

On this day...

• Judges 8 - 2024
• Judges 7 - 2024
• He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary - 2011
• Don't put your faith into feelings. - 2010
• PLACED IN THE LIGHT - 2009
• Colossians 2:6 - 2009
• THE QUEST FOR IMPERFECTION - 2008
• POLITICAL SKILL - 2008
• GO-TO PERFORMERS - 2008
• 1 Corinthians 2:2 - 2007