the unglorius victory

We like to think that life is like the movies.  We imagined our first kiss would be like it was in a Hallmark movie or that our teen years would look like the adventures of Ferris Bueller on his day off; and yet for many of us that isn't the case.  Often our lives are much more mundane than the ones that hit big at the box office.  

We also imagine that victories (both in battle and in life) will have some glorious ending where we get to plant our flag in the ground and declare that we have become conquerors.  And yet we find that success is more about the small daily steps of faithfulness rather than the big bangs of a war movie.

Recently, I began the task of taking down a treehouse in my backyard.  When we bought the house I was so excited about my kids having adventures up in this treehouse, but it became clear upon closer inspection that it had rotted out boards and wasn't a safe structure.  So I began last week to take it down and despite the fact that it looked like it might fall over any second; it has put up a fight to stay up.  So I have found myself pulling nail after nail and screw after screw to get this beast to the ground (I am now 90% done).  It turned out that these walls didn't fall like the ones at Jericho, they had to come down piece by piece.
I said this past week at our church meeting that my word of the year was faithfulness.  I said I had tried, through every change that 2020 threw at me, to be faithful to my calling as Pastor of this church.  I said that the people of this church had been so faithful in giving that we are doing well despite the economic hardship of many during this time.  And I said that God has been faithful most of all, hearing and answering our prayers time after time.

My goal in life isn't to "go down in a blaze of glory" to quote Jon Bon Jovi; but to live each day faithfully, to do the next right thing and then do it again day after day.  I know this isn't glamorous; but it is faithfulness.  In truth most of the people we meet in heaven won't be famous; but they will have been faithful.  

Will you seek faithfulness in your life?  Will you seek faithfulness in your home, in your job, in your school, in your church and in your walk with God?  Will you seek to press on despite the hardships of this year (or any year) and seek not glory but to press on day by day?

Most of our victories will be unglorious.  Most of them will go unnoticed by a world obsessed with fame and fortune; but they will not go unnoticed by God.

In Matthew 6:4 Jesus says "then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."  So don't worry about fame, fortune or glory; focus on faithfulness.

In Christ,
Pastor Scott