I have met at least a couple of those rare persons who have lived lives where they got to touch their dreams. It is not for nothing that they were the envy of many. Few men rise above mediocrity, and fewer still can look back on a life of undeniable success. These men worked very hard and never lost faith in God. Their motives were pure, and their lives were wholly invested in the church. I was blessed to meet them.
However, their critics weren’t so kind. Inevitably someone would suggest that Frank Sinatra summed up their leadership style in his song, “I did it my way.”
Undoubtedly, men who move men to action are liked or loathed. Solomon, the most successful of Israel’s kings, drove his people hard to build Israel into a great nation. But it was only after his death that anyone dared to complain about it in public.
How many men, if given the chance, would swear that they could handle Solomon’s success without turning the wisdom, the gold, and the power, into opportunities to indulge the excesses of idolatry?
Solomon was given much, and realistically, he did much good with it. But the blessings of this world became a curse for him; they separated Solomon from Him from Whom all blessings come. Solomon most certainly could say, “I did it my way,” because God did not bless him in any way that could destroy his soul.
It is scripture that says, “All a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, but the Lord evaluates his thoughts” (Proverbs 21:2 NET). Everyone, whether a failure or a success in their own eyes or the eyes of others, will ultimately come before the Judge of all humanity. All that will matter then is their faith in Jesus—Their faith that was working through love (Galatians 5:6).
And that is “Doing it God’s Way!”
John Staiger
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