Guard Your Cause (Day 3)
Having a gift, talent or a calling does not mean automatic victory. Throughout the course of the championship, opportunities will arise to distract you from your endgame. A look at old testament champions would show how many spiraled towards failure towards the end of their championship, because of their personal weaknesses, leading me to believe that there is such a thing as a shameful win.
Men of renown like Saul who was the first king of Israel yet his great feats faded in the shadows of king David who replaced him, like Solomon who was known as the wisest man, but who had a foolish end, men like Samson whose strength was unlike any other but whose end was a grave of stones and the bones of his crushed enemies, are warnings to us all to guard our cause.
Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life (Prov 4:23).
What we are passionate about often emanates from deep within us, the heart of us, but what we often do not realize is that that very passion could make us or break us. See being passionate about something simply refers to a strong emotional, intellectual response to something, an idea, a belief a person… So where being passionate about feeding the hungry, or ministering the gospel, or loving your significant other is good, that same passion can be turned up to a dangerous level that can distract us from our endgame (well done good and faithful servant).
Look at Saul for example, Saul was a powerful, respected king, chosen by God himself to be the first king of Israel and he did great things for God and his people, but Saul had a weakness and once that weakness continued unchecked, it led him to do something that cost him his throne. Previously we talked about having a solid foundation, in Saul’s case he traded the foundation of pleasing God for the foundation of pleasing himself. His fame got to him, his power, the adoration he received for his feats somehow made him forget that foundation of all he did was God. And once he started down that path of self pride, other things entered in, deceit, envy, fits of rage, murder, hate, sorcery.
Samson’s weakness was typical of a handsome, strong and very manly warrior… women. He had a wandering eye which manifested itself in disobedience and rash decisions. Honestly, I don’t think Samson might have been the sharpest tool in the toolkit, the man just never seemed to learn from his mistakes. He depended on his strength, but never guarded against his weakness, he was an act first talk later kind of guy and that cost him his life. It didn’t matter that he was called from birth, that an angel announced, actually announced his conception, it didn’t matter that he had the strength of a thousand men in his bare hands, it didn’t matter because Samson didn’t guard his cause, he didn’t guard his heart. And so when the time came, he succumbed to his weakness, the allure of a woman, which corrupted the call God had on his life.
Solomon’s curiosity was good because even now we have his wise words and conclusions about life to guide us, but his failure to guard that very thing led to compromise, idolatry and ultimately dishonoring the very God he had been called by and had served wholeheartedly in his youth.
The reality is this, yes there is something very special and unique about you, there may be a task that only you can do and God may very well have a great call on your life. But once you begin to be successful, whether it be in walking steadily with God, or having a successful ministry, or overcoming a previous struggle, if you do not guard against the weaknesses you’ve come to see in yourself (and even those you don’t see) you may just corrupt your cause. And a corrupted cause may very well result in a corrupted win. But I will say this, thank God for grace and mercy, for his son Jesus Christ, through whom we have a constant advocate and the promised comforter, whose strength shows out when our weaknesses overwhelm us.
Saul had a weakness for power, Samson a weakness for beautiful women, Solomon’s curiosity, riches and women distracted him from his cause, David stumbled over lust, Moses stumbled over a bad temper… what is your weakness. Are you aware of the parts of you that can easily trip you up when you least expect it. Ask God to reveal those things to you, so you can be attentive to them and guard your cause from the corruption your personal weaknesses can bring.
Because the areas we are most passionate about tend to be targets here is something you can do to help you identify where you need to keep a close watch:
- Identify your desires (what is it you want or are very passionate about?) e.g the desire to be a leader, the desire to save my entire family, the desire to top my class
- In those desires you’ve identified where do you feel like you are being most tested/attacked right now? e.g the desire to be a leader
- Why do you think so? e.g because I struggle with humility and tend to bulldoze over people I care about
- What are some other risks for temptation from your other desires? e.g tempted to be overly critical, tempted to cheat on my exams and take shortcuts in my work
Once you identify and work through these, if you choose to, think of ways that you can gaurd against them becoming a problem in your pursuit of your purpose in a way that is pleasing to God.
Be a blessing.
Remember you can keep up to date with upcoming entries for the ‘Champions of Today’ devotional series, by simply subscribing, which will mean that you get emails directly to your inbox, or by liking the Royalty Press Facebook page. Entries are posted every other day. If this encouraged you in anyway then share so someone else can be encouraged too.
Kelly is the founder of Royalty Press United. Author of the Gemstone Royals fantasy series, Twist of Faith and Crossroads. Counseling psychologist, proud Grenadian and devoted follower of Christ.
This is an eye opener for me. In fact, some weaknesses rared their heads in the past year that made me so grateful that I haven’t achieved a particular goal yet. If I had, I would have self – destruct and create problems where I should have been solving them. This is also a wake up call; to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s convictions and warnings. Thank you very much Ms. Purcell.
Yes it is a reality that we all face. Writing these has been a learning process for me as well so I’m glad this was valuable to you Bosede. God bless you!
Amen