Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

Several years ago I determined to write my own definition of success, with the intention that this definition would serve as my daily standard … and that at my life’s end it would be the standard to determine how well I had lived my life.

 

The definition: Success is being all the person God creates me to be and to do all that God calls me to do.

 

Each evening as I prayerfully go to bed, I ask, “Am I? Did I?”  Then I pray, “Lord teach me from my failures and I thank you for Your successes in which You let me share.”

 

What is your definition of success?  How you answer that question determines also how successful you are in releasing your God given uniqueness.  Your uniqueness is God’s provided pathway for you to be successful.

 

John the Baptist, whom I call JB, shows us how … not that we are to live the same details of JB’s life but that the pattern of his faithfulness guides us in knowing how to form our own pattern:

 

1) JB’s birth was a miracle (Luke 1).  So is yours.  Know and claim the miracle that you are alive.

 

2) JB was faithful to the setting & circumstances of his life (Mt. 3).  He lived in the desert, dressed & ate from his environment.  Know that God’s purposes can be at work in the present setting & circumstances of your life.  Don’t wait to live.  Live God’s importance today as your passion.

 

3) JB shaped himself around God’s truth and connected people to God’s truth (Malachi 4, John 1 & 3). God’s truth reveals the light, as we need the light, so we can see what to do next.

 

4) JB trusted God’s uniqueness when worldly forces tried to intimidate him (Luke 7).  Our trusting God sets us apart in a way that the world can better see God’s promise or judgment.

 

5) JB checked in with God’s reality (Mt. 11).  Looking death in the face, he wanted assurance that the stand he had taken was the right stand.  Your uniqueness will bring you to lonely places in life. Check in with God to ensure that you are there from faithfulness and not self ambition.

 

6) JB knew the importance of Christ increasing in our lives by our decreasing our own self centeredness (John 1, Mt. 14, 16, 17).  Our uniqueness includes us but is not just about us - thereby serving God’s larger purposes.

 

“Being uniquely you” also leads us to be uniquely us.  God shapes us a community of purposeful & disciplined uniqueness.  Our uniqueness is shown as together we live out our call to be the people of God to do the work of God.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
   ”A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ “

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

- Matthew 3:1-17 (NIV)

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

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