It is such a joy to speak on the title – the end of the matter, because it is always the end that matters and not how we begin. Over the years in ministry I have seen a lot of people who began well but ended very badly or sometimes not even to be seen. On the contrary there are few others who had very simple and humble beginning who do well phenomenally till today. I want to draw your attention to this scripture in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 8 the first portion of it. It reads this way – the end of the matter is better than its beginning…
I remember reading a quote by the famous and first prime minister of the independent India, he brings the idea of the end this way - Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves. (Jawaharlal Nehru) I also am reminded of another quote that read “Life without AIM is like a boat without oars in the mid sea.” This morning I want to bring the acronym AIM as the key word for achieving the end that is desired.
I am sure lots of us have Aim in life or probably you call it goals whatever be it, we all desire to achieve something but in achieving are we playing it according to the rules and the moral code that the bible gives us…? That is exactly what I want to share so that our victory doesn’t hamper the growth of the other or we destroy someone for achieving our goal. Let’s begin with the AIM…
A – Attitude matters to reach the desired end:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus – Philippians 2:5
What was the attitude that Jesus had? The bible tells us though he was the ultimate he decided to stoop down for the sake of mankind and also as a matter of obedience he humbled himself before the Father and that to death – a gruesome death on the cross. Jesus never had a negative perspective to anything that he did he always had a very positive outlook and he expects us to have the same. What is our attitude? Are we very negative about anything and everything? Attitude is most of the time what we perceive in mind about matters concerning us. Attitude can be trained but by nature we are tuned to be negative. For example when a plain paper is passed to people with the title “what do you see?” with the black dot on it most often people only see the black spot and never the white around. We are trained to see the bad and never the vastness of good around. Let me share a story that will narrate the positive attitude, that I read in John Maxwell’s book – in his book he talked about a shoe company hiring two candidates to promote and sell their shoes in a particular village, the response of one employee was that there cannot be any sale since no one wears shoes whereas the other guy responded no one wears shoes therefore it would be good if you send a truck load of shoes so that it can all be sold out. This is in short how one looks at life. You can be either positive and venture out or totally negative and quit. What is your attitude? Are you willing to see beyond or just ready to quit?
I – Information matters to reach the desired end:
When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What’s this wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. – Mark 6:2&3
We are simple people we are driven by who says and never by what is said. This one I want to call it the informer oriented way of living and information oriented way of living. In the Christian world if a renowned speaker says something weird people are ready to follow but never are willing to examine the content of what is said. The reason for many cults among is this because we are ready to listen to the big head and failed to see that big heads too can fail if he/she is trying to bring in any new idea away from the bible. We see an amazing example from the scripture the Pharisees were not able to accept Jesus for the simplest reason that he was a carpenter’s son and the mother happens to be Mary, they are driven by who Jesus was and not by what he said made sense to them. The bible tells us that they took offense…what a weird response purely driven by jealous cannot bear to see a carpenter’s son perform miracle or even have wisdom to share some thing amazing. My friend are you like that driven by your hero and impulsively following them or are you keen to listen to anything that makes sense without discriminating who says it? I leave it to you decide for yourself.
M – Mindset matters to reach the desired end:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2
Renewing of the mind is very important, as human beings we fix up something in our mind and we go by that alone and never are willing to change or even think of altering the course of our action. We have such strong mindsets but the bible tells us if we need to do the will of God we need to have a renewing of our mind. Let me share this very clearly with the help of this story that I read some years ago. It was about an old lady who lived in the hills and she was a widow. For her survival she would knit and do some hand crafts and bring them to the plains to sell them. She had a very strange habit of carrying a stick in her hand and tossing the stick when she reaches a junction and then taking the path the stick points to. One day she came to a four road junction and was tossing the stick many number of times and never went ahead, there was a young man who saw this and was disturbed and he asked her if everything was ok with her, to that she replied that she was tossing the stick to find the path that she would go, but eventually the stick did not fall to the direction to which she decided in her mind. This is exactly what a mindset is all about. Dear friends very often we are like that we decide something very strong and then still look for God’s will. Breaking the mindset is giving our ideas totally to God and going by what the bible tells us.
Conclusion:
Now I know you will be nodding your head saying, “yes” I surely have an AIM but I need to check the Attitude, information and the mindset that I hold dearly. I want to conclude on a very positive note by quoting I Corinthians 15:58.
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Our labor in the Lord is never in vain; therefore, let us run with perseverance and achieve the goal that God has for us. God bless you as you AIM to carry on with the scripture in mind, the end of the matter is better than its beginning. Amen.
