GOODNEWS DEVOTIONAL
THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017
OVERCOMING “ACHIEVEMENT” MENTALITY
TEXT: Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth (KJV).
We are not created to achieve but to be fruitful. We are not created to acquire but to inspire. In the beginning when God created man, he did not create man to go and take from the world, he created man to go and contribute to the world. This is why he said in today’s text “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth (KJV). What God said was that we multiply the earth and not to acquire the earth, to subdue the earth not to subtract the earth. Achievement means successful accomplishment while fruitfulness means multiplication of yourself. The problem is when we ask people what they have achieved, we are simply asking them for what they have acquired. And this is the mentality that has made people to live very far from the plans and purpose of God for their lives. Those who live with the intention to achieve or acquire will always live below the purpose of God for their lives. Jesus said in Luke 12:15 “…Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (KJV). Our values before God will never be measured by how many houses, cars, certificates, children and millions that we acquired (which are not bad), but by how many lives we have impacted. Achievement mentality makes us to keep on acquiring more and more without remembering that we are strangers here on earth. It is this acquisition mentality that makes someone to own a lot and he is not ready to part with some to others. This mentality also makes people to work for themselves without having time to serve or work for God. The scripture says, “What shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. If you are alive only to achieve, you may enter into error, but if your drive is to impact and be a blessing to your world, you will not miss it. It is the “desire” to have” that is leading many to sin today. The book of 1 Timothy 6:10 says “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (KJV). Jesus came, he did not acquire the world, but He transformed the world. Stop thinking of what to “achieve” for yourself in this world, but think about what you want to “achieve” for yourself in the world to come. Matthew 5:3 says “Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (KJV). In other words, those who are free from worldly achievement mentality are those who would have the kingdom of heaven.
CONFESSION
Father, thank you for your word today. I refuse to live for this world only, I live for your kingdom, in the name of Jesus.
