Introduction — Cathy Rigby was a member of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team during the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, Germany. As the reigning United States champion she had only one goal in mind—
to win a gold medal. Prior to the Olympics she had trained longer and harder than she ever had before. On the day the competition began, she prayed for the strength to control her emotions so that she could get through her routine without making mistakes. She was tense with determination not to let herself or her country down.
She performed well, but when it was all over and the winners were announced, her name was not among them. Cathy was crushed. Afterward, she joined her parents in the stands all set for a good cry. As she sat down, she could barely manage to say, “I’m sorry. I did my best.” To which her mother said, “You know that, and I know that, and I’m sure God knows that too.” Then, she heard her mother say 10 words that have impacted her life like none other: “Doing your best is more important than being the best.”
You know, as a young Christian I fell in love with God, and the more I thought about His great love for me the more I wanted Him to have only the best. He deserved it. But as I went along in my spiritual pilgrimage—I had times of utter frustration because I couldn’t give Him the best. Sometimes my own sin got in the way. At other times, I knew that even the very best that I could accomplish wasn’t good enough for Him. As I young pastor I shared my problem with a mentor of mine, a committed saint who has now gone to be with the Lord, his name of was Gerald Locke. He must have hung around Cathy Rigby’s mother at one time or another because he told me very simply that God was a whole lot more interested in my best than He was in the best.
I’m feeling a bit frustrated again these days. I’ve not fallen back into that performance trap that I was once in, my frustration now comes from seeing a lot of Christians who never try to offer God their best, they simply ask Him to settle for second best. Well brethren, I don’t think we serve a second rate God that is happy with our leftovers. If really believe that there is none like God, then there should be nothing like the commitments and sacrifices we are willing to make to please Him.
This evening, using the familiar story of David and Goliath as our guide, I want to look with you at some principles that lead to a life of accomplishment. We are going to look only at three areas, there could be many more, but as we look at each of them, put yourself in David’s shoes and see how you are measuring up to a shepherd boy who had nothing at all going for him—nothing that is except a heart that was perfect after the heart of God.
I. A Life of Accomplishment is Lived Courageously
Courage is a fascinating concept when you think about it. You can’t plan acts of courage. I don’t think firemen wake up in the morning and say “You know what, I think I’ll go pull some children out of a burning building today.” Although when they do does kinds of things they are tremendous acts of courage.
Nor do I think ordinary citizens go around looking for
ways to show off their courage—but we’ve all heard of
examples of unbelievable courage displayed by common
ordinary folks.
You may not be able to plan acts of courage, but you can choose to live courageously. When you choose to live courageously you tend to go against the flow. That’s because most people, Christians included are
more comfortable conforming than living courageously.
Think of David for a minute. He was given the responsibility of tending his father’s sheep. Sounds like a pretty menial job to me. I mean you don’t have to have very many smarts to look after sheep. But it was a responsibility that he took seriously. When wild animals came and attacked the flock, he could
have said “Well that’s too bad, but that bear was more than I could handle.” But David had already determined that he was going to be faithful to his responsibilities, and that meant that he was going to have to live courageously.
It’s easy for us say things are too big for us, or too hard, but that’s the easy way out. The fact of the matter is, God has called us to do some big things, and some hard things. And if we are going to get them done, we must begin to live courageously. Everybody else may be cowering before the giant—but we need to be bowing before the Lord.
II.A Life of Accomplishment is Lived Confidently
A strong confidence is often misunderstood. (v. 28) Eliab didn’t know David’s heart. We’re not sure how much older he was than David, but it’s pretty obvious that he lacked something that David had.
This has been a tough few months for Eliab. He was the eldest in his father’s house. It was his responsibility to carry forth his father’s birth right, yet in the 16th chapter when Samuel came to Jesse’s house looking to anoint a king for Israel, he along with all of his brothers were passed over in favor of this young show off David. Now to make matters worse David his out there talking like a man who is about to stand up to Goliath. Eliab had had about enough.
Eliab said that David was conceited and had a wicked heart. The wicked heart issue I’m not even going to deal with because we already know about David’s heart.
But the complaint about him being conceited is curious
to me. The KJV translates it as pride which lends itself to arrogance. If you looked at verses 35 – 36 and stopped there you would tend to agree with Eliab—but reading on we see that David clearly gives all the glory to God for his past accomplishments. David is doing something that no one else on that battlefield
was doing—displaying a strong confidence in the Lord.
We need to be more like David than like Eliab. Eliab could only see how big Goliath was, while David could only see how big God is.
When we fail to display great confidence in the ability of God, we are missing out on some of life’s great opportunities. It was with great confidence in God that Abraham laid his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice. It was with great confidence in God that Joshua called on Israel to trust God and go into the Promised Land. It was with great confidence in God that Stephen testified of God’s greatness even when it would cost him his life.
Times haven’t changed at all in this regard—If we want to live a life of accomplishment, we must live with a great confidence in God. The words of Habakkuk should always echo in our hearts and minds; “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (3:17 - 18)
III. A Life of Accomplishment is Lived with Strong Commitments
Do you know what really amazes me about this whole story? David stood up against Goliath and killed him.
You are probably sitting there thinking, “Well, duh!” But think about that for a moment. David didn’t just talk—he acted out his commitments.
Now understand that he had made no commitment to go out a fight for Israel. He is just a boy checking on his brothers for his dad and delivering them some cheese and crackers. He could have got back on the road and hightailed it for home when he saw what was going on there and no one would have thought the less of him. But he couldn’t do that because there was a commitment that he had to follow through with…let me explain.
Turn to 1 Samuel 16:13. “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” God had made an investment David.
David knew that he wasn’t the same anymore. His was
to be lived according to the will of the Lord, and he couldn’t get away from that.
God had made a commitment to him, and he had to
reciprocate—he made a commitment to God.
Do you think it is any different today? I don’t. God has made a tremendous investment in each of us. How can we be indifferent in our commitment to Him? Your life shouldn’t be the same anymore—you have been called to live according to with of God. That is the only way you will have a life of accomplishment.
Conclusion — David was little more than a boy when he stood up to face Goliath, and yet we can see in his character traits that will lead him to set an example of a life of accomplishment, and every one of them are based in faith. A courageous faith, a confident faith, and a committed faith. It is never too early, nor is it ever too late to start accomplishing God’s plan for you!
