How Come I Am Following God, Yet They Are Winning?

This is an age old question that many Christians face; may it be in their workplace, career, or competition. I have numerous friends in the rodeo industry, many at the elite-top of their game professionally. This is a question I have faced myself and in conversation with friends on any level, from amateur competition all the way up to the best of the best in the pros. How come it is I am the one following God, I am the one putting myself out there on the line serving Him, and yet I am sitting here watching those "heathens" win when it should be me?!  

There has been many conversations between friends over this subject. After many years of seeking God for the answer I believe I finally have it. Are you ready for it?....... Who cares! Who cares if they are winning! Let me explain myself with a couple mistakes we make in the process of this thinking.  

Our first mistake is in where our focus is being directed. Is your focus on their success?  Is your focus on their lack of respect towards God? Do you have a "Pharisee mindset" where your focus is more on the appearance of your walk with God to others than your actual walk with God?  

That begs the question, where should our focus be? Romans 12:1-2 has the key. I absolutely love how The Message bible worded this scripture.  

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

Right there it says instead of becoming so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking, fix your attention to God. That's right, your focus should be on God.  That doesn't make sense? Keep reading it will all come together. By putting our focus on what other people are doing instead of focusing solely on God, presenting ourselves and every part of our lives as an offering, a living sacrifice, we are automatically conforming ourselves to this world; fitting into it without even noticing. We start to hold a grudge against that person. We start to harbor un-forgiveness towards that person. When our focus strays away from God we begin to lose focus on our true purpose of being there.    

Which leads us to our second mistake. We make the mistake in believing that our value comes from our success. The truth of the matter is, God could give a diddly-squat if you are winning or not. He wants to know what you are doing with the talents He has given you to reach those around you. Hear me out on this.  

God doesn't place value on you by your title or successes in life. When we get to heaven He isn't going to sit there and marvel at your gold buckle; he has streets full of them! He isn't going to say "you know what, you worked your way to the top of your company.  You were the best at your business. Come on in!".  No! He is going to say "Well done my good and faithful servant!"  

By holding a grudge and harboring un-forgiveness towards someone we are hindering any chance of ever showing them God's true love. Have you ever wondered if their lack of respect towards God has anything to do with the way you treat them? Think about it. Most of them the only "God" they see is you. So when you hold a grudge against them because their actions don't meet your "par of standards" and your jealousy kicks in - because let's face it, that's what it truly boils down to being - you aren't showing them God's true love. You are instead showing them what the world views as Christianity and fueling their feelings to never want to follow God.  

Sometimes we need to swallow our pride and look at the full picture. Once we can realize that our value isn't in our title and successes, that our value isn't in our accomplishments but rather in the difference we make to those around us; your whole view of life and career will change.  

Now does this mean that God doesn't want you to succeed? Absolutely not! That's not at all what I said. I said God doesn't place His value in your successes and titles. But as a result of following God, we will succeed and be blessed in everything our hand touches.  

But it's a vicious cycle when we take our focus off of God and start harboring un-forgiveness towards others. I view un-forgiveness like a beaver dam that blocks our river of blessings. God is still sending the blessings our way, but our un-forgiveness blocks them from coming through. We can get fooled into thinking our life is fine and dandy because some blessings still trickle through when the truth is most of our blessings are being blocked and not even getting through to us. Imagine what the blessings would be like if you let go of that grudge and truly forgave people in the bottom of your heart! You wouldn't be able to press it down or shake it together to keep it from overflowing.  

If you want to make a difference with your life get your focus off of what other people are doing and start focusing on what God wants you to be doing. Then sit back and watch God work not only in your life but also in the lives around you. Don't be surprised when you find your view of success change from titles and money to getting more excited when those you previously couldn't stand are now asking you questions about how to get their life right with God..