On Being Successful

A Word For Living
Mike Rasberry
April 15, 2009
On Being Successful

Burt Lancaster, the late Academy Award-winning film actor, was a circus acrobat before he headed to Hollywood. Several films allowed him to display his physique and athletic skills. Chuck Conners, the star of TV’s popular Rifleman, was both a professional basketball player with the Boston Celtics and a professional baseball player with the Chicago Cubs and the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also drafted by professional football’s Chicago Bears. Ronald Reagan was a radio sports announcer before becoming a Hollywood film actor and then successful politician.

Burt Lancaster was associated with liberal Democratic causes while both Conners and Reagan were closely associated with conservative Republican causes, but all three share a trait necessary for success in today’s world. They were willing to walk away from that which they had chosen as their life’s work to pursue a new career.

Someone has said that if you’re the same person you’ve always been, then you’re not a Christian. I think that is absolutely true. When one becomes a Christian, he becomes a new person, with a new direction and a new purpose. He does not continue in the same general direction he was going, simply making corrections to his course. He makes a 180 degree turn and begins a walk in the diametrically opposite direction. Where once he was walking away from God, he is now walking toward God.

When men can leave their chosen vocation, as the before mentioned actors, to head in a totally different direction, not once but multiple times, why do those who name Christ as Lord find it so difficult to leave behind their life before Christ. The Genuine Disciple of Christ has the empowering and sustaining comfort of the Holy Spirit to assist him in his quest to live for Christ. He is not dependent upon box office revenues or public acclaim. His is not the life of finding the most palatable compromise which will enhance his career without diminishing his platform. The Genuine Disciple has, but one over-riding purpose, to follow while obeying the Living Christ.

The difference between the old life and the new life in Christ is consequential. It affects every aspect of one’s life. Yet, the Genuine Believer is not alone in his new walk. He has the body of believers as well as the indwelling Christ. He has everything necessary to make the trip successful. He can come to the end of his life’s walk and say that he has finished the course that God laid out for him. He can call his life successful.


© 2009 Mike Rasberry