Key Bible Verse: "Don't store up treasures here on earth … Store your treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:19-20). Bonus Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:13-15

Besides being a young golfer who shot in the low 70s, and an ace basketball player, Mac McFarland was one of the best high school tennis players in California. He rarely lost in four years. Performance is everything, he was taught. Forget the process; results are what count. The world has no room for losers. His father's motto? Never let 'em see you sweat. "After a big match, [my father] would come up to me and say, 'Ya gotta work on that backhand.' He could never just say, 'Nice match.'"

Sports became the essence of who Mac was. Teachers cut him slack because he was a talented jock. Fellow students accepted him because of how hard he could hit a tennis ball. After college, Mac transferred his winning-is-everything philosophy to the world of work. He went into business with his father, and the two of them—both compulsive workers—made it a lucrative one. Mac bought the trinkets of success: a red Alfa Romeo and a plush house with the best electronics.

He was 28, married, and had two small sons when in just seven minutes his house was burned to the ground. Although the family escaped unharmed, everything was gone. [continued 8/8]

—Bob Welch in A Father for All Seasons

My Response: Has some form of performance become the essence of who I am?

Thought to Apply: Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.—KENNETH BOULDING (economist)

Adapted from A Father for All Seasons (Moody, 1997) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, move me beyond the world's definition of failure and success to the only one that counts—Your definition.

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