Philippians 4: 12-13 “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
One of life’s greatest rewards is to find a challenge, study it, work it and achieve it! To be challenged is to be motivated. Motivation is the key to action and ultimately success and that great feeling of accomplishment.
Unchallenged people may be sad and have not a clue why. An uncle retired from an automotive plant in Ohio and moved back to Kentucky. I’ll never forget him saying “The biggest mistake I ever made was moving back with nothing to do.”
He left all his friends in Ohio and the area he was familiar with. He fished with a neighbor friend but never found it necessary to wet a line in one of the many Kentucky lakes or rivers.
He never found his challenge. To try to give him suggestions would have been counterproductive because a person must find his/her own challenge.
A student in my industrial arts wood shop asked if he could build a guitar. I did not tell him “No, that’s never been done before!” Instead I asked him, “What do you need me to do to help you get started?”
He was an already accomplished craftsman. Being a second year student, he knew the materials, tools and processes necessary to produce the product. I was there if he needed me but the challenge was his.
A person without a challenge faces every day without a goal. Without a goal what is there to live for? Is a simple existence actually worth living? In this writer’s opinion, the answer to that is an absolute NO!
To wake up each morning with the thought of one’s challenge is a life fulfilled. Waking up wondering “Well, what am I going to do today?” is a bland and boring existence.
Talking to a young person recently, I asked, “How’s school?” His answer was “Boring.” My next question was “Why?”
His answer did not surprise me. “It’s so simple, I finish while the others are trying to figure out what to do.” Why do many teachers not recognize that gifted child of higher intelligence and initiative? Is he not as important as the child with no parental motivation and inspiration? He/she will be the mover and shaker of the future!
If a teacher regards all students as equal in everything, their teacher certification is in question. Students are as different in intelligence, motivation and creativity as they look. None of us look alike or think alike. Why would our personal achievement capabilities be equal?
A challenge is personal. Whether it is climbing a mountain, building a guitar or reaching an unchurched person with the Gospel of Christ Jesus,
A young friend made the statement “If you achieve all your goals, you did not set your goals high enough.” In a movie a police officer said to a thief “You got to know your limitations.”
Do you have limitations? Oscar Pistorius, a South African sprinter was born with a birth defect in his lower legs. His lower legs were amputated when he was eleven months old. Pistorius became known as “the blade runner.” His achievements as a runner were a result of his personal challenge.
Christians regard Acts 1: 8 as “The Great Commission.” “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Did Jesus issue to us an admonition, a mandate or a command? Perhaps! But it is, to the analytical mind, a challenge! Why must we regard it as an order to be done by another?
Should our Great Commission challenge be to send another person? Absolutely not!
Acts 1: 8 states what on the surface appears to be four geographic locations. “Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.”
But are they? The Samaritans were a despised people by the Jews; they were “half breeds.” The Samaritans did not determine their ancestry and could not change it.
My dad told me of five nationalities in my blood and I do not remember for sure what they are, or care. Perhaps Jesus was telling His disciples “If you are waiting for someone just like you, to tell about Me, you will never tell anyone about My saving power.”
In stating the “uttermost parts of the earth” He was telling them to go everywhere in the world. However the uttermost parts to us individually, may not be thousands of miles away. It may be a difficult neighbor or even in one’s own home.
A former student told me (twenty years after he was in my construction tech class), “I was able to build my family’s house because of what I learned in your class.”
Wouldn’t it be cool to be in Heaven some day in eternity and someone tell you, “I’m here because you told me about the saving power of our glorious Savior, Jesus,”
The Bible teaches there is only one eternal salvation. That is by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) that Christ Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (Romans 4: 25), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive into Heaven (Acts 1: 9).
Your challenge is before you. Don’t ignore it! Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist, and a commissioned missionary.