Title Process or result ?
Contents
title ; Process or result?
main text ; Psalm 1:1-6
I want to ask you one question.
Do you value the process more? Or do you value results more? Whatever the process, it would be a very risky idea if the outcome was more important.
For example, let's say that someone won first place in an athletic event. Seeing that first-class result, everyone will cheer him up and receive honor and praise. However, if the first-class process is bad, on the contrary, the first-class result can be even greater shame and insult.
Let's take an example. The 1988 Olympic Games were held in our country, South Korea. At that time, the biggest interest was the men's 100m track and field event, which is who is the fastest man in the world.
At that time, as the strongest candidate for the championship, there was 'Carl Lewis' of the United States and 'Ben Johnson' of Canada who challenged him.
The match time finally came and the whole world watched, the start gunfire was finally heard, and the rankings were decided in an instant. Canada's Ben Johnson set the world record for breaking the 10-second barrier.
Van Johnson became a hero in an instant. The whole world roared with such a wonderful and thrilling scene, praising Ben Johnson as a great man. I was in Korea at the time, but probably the Canadians here who saw and heard the news on TV were very enthusiastic.
On TV, he reported the process of winning the gold medal through many setbacks and difficulties every day. However, in a doping test [drug test] that validates the gold medal process in more detail, he came back positive.
Eventually his gold medal was forfeited, and the voices of praise and cheers for him a while ago changed to those of swearing and shame.
A few days later, Ben Johnson covered his face and was forced to flee Gimpo Airport. And his playing career ended with that. It is a tragic event that occurred when he ignored the process because he was too eager to see the results of gold medal, fame and money.
This wrong process causes various problems and tragedies happen here and there, but it seems the sad reality today that many people pay more attention to the outcome than the process.
In spite of the collapse of Seongsu Bridge in Korea and the collapse of Sampoong Department Store due to the wrong construction process, many people have died, but it is never desirable to continue to value the result rather than the process.
We also remember the Winter Olympics not long ago in Salt Lake, USA. In the short track event, Korea's Kim Dong-seong defeated American Ono and proudly won the gold medal.
When the Korean people heard the news on TV, they cheered Kim Dong-seong and greatly rejoiced. However, a few minutes later, Kim Dong-seong's gold medal was forfeited, and American Ono player took the gold medal. And this time all the Americans got up and clapped and liked it.
Dong-seong Kim's gold medal was taken away and disqualification was not due to the wrong drug administration or game process like Ben Johnson, but to Ono's Hollywood action.
As a result of this absurd result, Ono won the gold medal, but the Korean people, who were angry with this decision, received great reproach as a cowardly and cunning player.
And along with the unfairness of the referee that made this decision, America's arrogant behavior has also come under fire. On the other hand, although Kim Dong-seong lost the gold medal, he was comforted by many people and rather shined as a Korean hero.
Everyone, don't you think it's more right to have a no medal than to have fun with an unreasonable gold medal in your hand? Don't you think it's more honorable to be a beggar than to get rich through bad methods such as corruption and bribery?
Ladies and gentlemen, we sometimes say this to people who value results more than processes. "History later proves it!" In other words, no matter how good the results may be right now, history will dig deeper into the process later, and eventually the right and wrong will be revealed.
Even if history does not properly grasp the process and is deceived by the outcome, God, who watches everything with the eyes of a flame, knows the whole process and makes the final judgment.
In Matthew 7:21-24, Jesus said this.
"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, we prophesy in your name, and in your name. ?쏦ave you not cast out demons and performed many mighty works in your name???Then I will say to them clearly, ?쏧 never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.??
In other words, no matter how great a prophet may be, healing the sick, or performing great powers, no matter how good the results on earth are due to them, in the kingdom of heaven, the process of those results will always be followed.
Of course, if the process is good and the results are good, it would be great. However, to expect only good results without taking the proper steps is deceiving yourself and never receiving praise from God.
A Christian should not follow the dishonest course of his/herself for fear of the result, even if the result is bad for him, or even if his honor and position are taken away and he suffers great damage. Even if the results are not good right now, it would be a good Christian to follow the right course in anticipation of the heavenly results later.
After all, the great men of the Bible were all those who gave their lives to follow the right course in the sight of God.
Take the case of Joseph. When he was a servant of General Potiphar, his master Mana saw his handsomeness and seduced him sexually. While resolutely resisting such temptations, Joseph was falsely framed and ended up being imprisoned for years.
Judging from the results up to this point, Joseph must have been a very unlucky man, and God must have been indifferent to God. But the results did not end there.
God, who watched with his flaming eyes, knew the whole process, and when the time came, he brought Joseph out of prison. And he appointed Joseph, who followed the right course in the midst of difficult circumstances, as the prime minister of Egypt.
Guys, keep that in mind. Taking an honest course before God is the only way to get the best result at the last moment. A more beautiful Christian image is to not only look at the immediate results of this earth, but to wait for the heavenly results and endure and endure suffering sometimes.
Look at Jesus. The Lord never lied on this earth and went through a just process. But the return to the end of the Lord's life was bitter betrayal, ridicule, and contempt.
And he suffered from severe thirst and met the disastrous result of dying on the cross. Because of these unsatisfactory results, most of the Israelites still do not think of Jesus as their Savior.
But you and I are well aware of the end result of Jesus. Jesus, who went through the right process in the eyes of God, expecting the results of the kingdom of heaven rather than the results of this earth, finally became the savior of all people who received the authority of the whole universe.
If the course of Jesus' life had not been right before God, his death would have been the death of a dog, and his suffering would have turned into a foolish suffering.
Our God never disappoints the end result of believers who have gone through the right process. When the time comes, for those who have gone through the right course in the Lord, He will surely achieve the corresponding results.
Therefore, even if the process that pleases God is very difficult and difficult, never follow a false process. Rather, if you follow the course God wants you to, even if you die in the middle, do not deceive your conscience and live in the course of injustice.
Today's text tells us:
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. For the way of the righteous is recognized by the LORD, but the way of the wicked will be destroyed" (Psalm 1:1,6).
Do you want to be the last blessed person, the last glorious person?
I pray in the name of the Lord that you and I will eventually achieve the best results in the kingdom of heaven by not following the wrong course of the wicked, but defending the course of the righteous, the path of the righteous, and the way of the righteous to the end.