Excellence Is To Obtain Greater In Quantity

You tried to be productive as you can for the Lord. You are not satisfied at this level of productivity and you want more. John 15:16 says “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”  What Jesus is saying here is “be fruitful”. He doesn’t just call us to be faithful, He also called us to be fruitful. Many people want their life to be dramatic and have a radical change. Companies want their sales to increase. They want investors to be queuing up at their doorsteps. Students want their school grades to improve overnight. Some wants to find a quick way to be millionaires. But the truth is, all these instantaneous results don’t happen in real life. In real life situation, it takes real hard work, right mindset, to raise the quality of your life to become a productive person. In fact, it takes a lot of patience, a lot of persistency for you to see fruits.

Years ago, there was a young man with six months schooling, wanted to run for legislation. As expected, he lost it. To his credit, he wanted to run for office in the legislature. Next he entered into business and ended in debts. He spent the next 17 years paying his debts. He fell in love with a charming lady and they became engaged. Unfortunately, she died. He had a nervous breakdown. He ran for congress and was defeated. He wanted to obtain an appointment in the Land office but didn’t succeed. He became the candidate for the Vice Presidency and he lost. Two years later, he was defeated for Senator. He ran for office once more and was finally elected President. His name was Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). You may have read all about his background and heard it several times. But what does it tell us? He never gave up.

There is nothing free in life even when it comes to our salvation. It may be free to us when we received Jesus Christ but it costs God everything because His only begotten Son was nailed on the cross for you and me. The truth is this. To achieve your dreams, you must be willing to pay the price for success. Psalms 126:5-6 says “those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” To the degree that you are willing to pay the price, that will be the degree you will find success in life.

The price of success places a demand on three areas of our life. We will look at the three areas in next parts.