[Real Life] Abide To AchieveSample

Abiding vs. Achieving

Let me take the bull’s-eye of abiding and put two rings around it to illustrate the concept. The first ring around our bull’s-eye is the difference between abiding and achieving. We are called to abide, not to achieve. When we abide we trust God and allow Him to do His work through us. 

We live in a culture that is very achievement-driven. We drop our kids into the “achievatron” because we never want to see any potential left on the table. That is why many of us are addicted to our cell phones’ screens, checking our email in the midst of conversations with people we love, wanting to find out if an acquaintance has anything for us to do. Our thinking goes something like, “Let me not spend time with my spouse in order to get with someone I barely know and see what they need.” Do you see the fallacy? Do you perceive the addiction? Don’t seek achievement, seek abiding. 

The addiction trickles down and we put it on our kids. We put headphones on a pregnant woman’s belly, trying to teach the baby an appreciation of music. As soon as a baby can eat Cheerios, we count to them in Spanish because we want the baby to learn a foreign language. By the time the baby is six, he or she gets a tutor; by eight, they have specialized in a sport and have a former pro athlete for a trainer. These are not bad things in themselves, by all means. But often, we focus on achieving and accomplishments instead of training children in character. We are trying to achieve great kids. 

The goal is not to achieve, but to abide. As I abide in Christ, my godliness will make me a better father, and then I will be able to achieve greater things with my kids. If I abide, I walk with Christ and honor God. I live restfully resident in Him, desperately dependent upon Him. This makes me a better husband, employer, or whatever it is that I do. I have been made clean. I am attached to the Vine, and He is just coming through me to bear the fruit. 

C.S. Lewis said, “Put first things first and second things are thrown in. Put second things first and you lose first and second things.”

Ring one, are you trying to achieve? Or are you aiming for the bull’s-eye of abiding in Christ?