The Power to Prevail by David Foster

Author:David Foster [FOSTER, DAVID]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000
ISBN: 9780759528222
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2003-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

You Learn by Losing to Your Competitors

From the start, David’s family wrote him off. Then he faced sharp ridicule as formidable Goliath compared him to a dog. But by the end of the day, David had Goliath’s head—literally.

David knew how to turn his can’ts into cans . . . and yet the going didn’t instantly get much easier. In a short while, King Saul—the very guy whose battle David fought and won—considered David his rival, his main competitor. Saul hated David. And it didn’t help his temper to hear his own people singing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7 NIV). Each time Saul heard the irritating refrain, his competitive nature stirred itself into a rage. David spent years on the run and in hiding, all because the very person whose kingdom he’d saved now saw David as a competitor. David posed no threat to Saul, but no one could convince him otherwise.

Like David, we live in a world defined by winning and losing. We’re told, “If I win, you must lose.” We tend to bring this competitive attitude into everything. Some people make marriage a contact sport. We haven’t learned the advantage of W.W.O.N.D.A. (“win/win, or no deal always”). And so, without a nobler alternative, we settle for listening to our critics, drawing unfair comparisons, and living down the insecurities imposed on us by our supposed competitors.

Be done with listening to the big talk of small people! Stop hanging around with negative people, hoping for a positive outcome. Step out of the critic’s corner. As the Scripture says, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people” (Rom. 16:17-18 NIV).

You have too much important stuff to do to get stuck in the thick of thin things. Get away from gripers who abide no heroes, champion no causes, and acknowledge no accomplishments. Small people attack and belittle others. While Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” he also said, “Neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (Matt. 22:39; 7:6 KJV). You need to be smart enough to pick the right neighborhood.

If you get around people who believe enough in you to place great expectations on you, you just might accomplish greatness. I have always prayed, “Lord, let me be the smallest guy in my group. Let me be around people who can stir up my inspirational dissatisfaction and bring out the best in me. I, in turn, want to do that for others.”

God did not create you to crown you with mediocrity. He created you and crowned you with glory. With glory! You bear his image. God created you and breathed into you. You were born to ascend, to achieve, and to enjoy the adventure.

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