SUCCESS WITH SALTINESS

The Christian Students’ Excellence

By KASEPOGU GABRIEL, BD III

WHAT ARE EXCELLENCE, SUCCESS AND SALTINESS? In this World of competition there is no place
for people or organizations which do not look for excellence in their respective fields.

Excellence can be described as “the quality of being extremely good” and success as “an achievement of
desired aim or something planned or attempted”. John C. Maxwell says: “Success is knowing the purpose of
your life, growing to reach your maximum potential, sowing seeds that benefit others”. A true follower of Christ
is compared to salt. (Mathew 5:13-14). For us, success with saltiness means “following the footsteps of Jesus
Christ and projecting Christ by excelling in each and every area of our lives especially in our studies and
spiritual life to impact the people in order to transform the chaotic society towards peace, harmony, joy,
eternity, to the ultimate reality”.

Christian excellence is not limited to our spiritual life or academics but it includes family, ministry, profession
and many areas and aspects of our life. For a true Christian spiritual life and his/her respective area/field
(saltiness and success) are like two tracks, they should go hand in hand and they should be balanced.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE? Christian excellence is motivated by a desire to please God. God has great plans
for our lives.

The very purpose of our excellence is to exalt God’s holy name, God’s kingdom and the establishment of peace
and righteousness around us.

We have to excel because God is excellent (Ps 8: 1), His name is excellent (Ps 148: 13) and we are called to be
excellent (Phil 4: 28). Remember the statement of William Carey: “Expect great things from God, attempt great
things for God.”

WHO ARE OUR MODELS? The Bible displays many examples of those who excelled in their lives and
succeeded. Out of them Daniel and his friends were outstanding group of people who succeeded with saltiness.
Really they excelled in their spirituality, personality (Dan. 1:4), in their academics (Dan.1:4, 20), even in their
profession (Dan. 2:48–49) and even ministry. In spite of political, social, religious, cultural barriers,
oppositions, pains, even death, Daniel and his friends were able to stand for God and they excelled because of
their steadfastness, strong commitment & determination in obeying the call of God and doing the will of God.
They never compromised and joined their hands with any kind of sin and the desires of the World. Their lives
and words testified about God powerfully and reflected to the people and even to the kings.

WHEN SHOULD WE EXCEL? Christian excellence is not seasonal or occasional but it is a life time
application and it should be consistent and it should go on after studies and to the end of our life. The moment
we decide to give our life to Christ and be born-again, our goal is to pursue excellence. Pat Riley says:
"excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better”. Because excellence is never attained upon first
attempt but is always the outcome of persistent effort invested over time in pursuit of a high goal.

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WHAT ARE THE MAJOR HINDRANCES OR ROAD BLOCKS?

A) HINDRANCES TO OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE:

a) Within & Around Us:

1) Forgetting to spend time with God in prayer and quiet time and meditation on Word of God

2) Memories of an evil past and our hidden selfish and malice motives to pursue pleasures, prosperity, powerful
positions, superiority and inferiority complex

3) Our inability to distinguish between committing a sin and living in sin, handling the temptations, hiding and
doing secret sins, hypocrisy. (Hebrews 10:19-27)

4) Our journey towards excellence can be side tracked by over thinking on our personal and family problems,
struggles, disappointments, lust, sexual desires, bad dreams, sinful thoughts, what we don’t have, fear of future
settlement, struggle of finding God’s will in marriage/choosing life partner and future settlement (1 John 2:16,
James 1: 14-18). 5) Impact of misusing the media & technology.

B) HINDRANCES TO OUR ACADEMICS: 1) Ignorance: Unaware of our own ability, Unaware of subject
applicability, lack of updates about the contemporary world, 2) mismanaging our time, treasure & talents, 3)
forgetting the goals and our purpose of joining the course or study, poor maintenance of class notes and doing
assignments at the last minute, entering the examination without proper preparation, 4) stealing the library
time/study hours 5) reading over nights before examinations results in sickness, 6) misusing our freedom which
is given by God, parents, faculty, college administration, 7) breaking guide of conduct or rules and regulations
of the college will take away success with saltiness, 8) lack of self discipline (Read I Corinthians 12-14 and
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes): Excessive sleep and laziness, lack of proper exercises or morning/evening walk,
eating more than required are road blocks to our excellence and cause to illness. Remember we are stewards to
all what God has given to us (I Corinthians 6:19-20, Ecclesiastes 11:9-10, Proverbs 23:21).

HOW TO EXCEL?

A) IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE:

a) By Spending Time with God Alone (Psalm 1:2-3, 119:1-16, 105...):

1) Spending time with God alone on a daily basis is the platform to grow spiritually, to meet God and spend
time in His presence to seek God’s grace, joy, and peace. Sadhu Sundar Singh said: “Without Christ I was like a
fish out of water, with Christ, I am in a sea of life.” Today many so called Christians are excelling in their
respective fields but without Christ. Sadly, these Christians live a life of quiet desperation as they are daily
defeated by the world, the flesh, the devil and continuing in the sin and sinful thoughts.

b) By Having Fellowship with Believers:

i) Through a Small Group:

1) Choose a prayer partner(s) who have same faith and passion, commitment, convictions to share the burdens,
to pray for each other and to encourage one another for at least 15 minutes on daily basis.

ii) Through Larger Group:

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1) With the open heart attending Sunday service/Community worship to worship God regularly to receive and
applying Lord’s message.

2) Attending occasional meetings like seminars, retreats, Bible classes, conferences, youth camps, if the
time/treasure permits to learn new things from the word of God. (Acts 2:42, 46-47).

c) By Witnessing for Christ (Acts 1:8, I John 1:1-3): We can witness for Christ by our life and words (Mathew
4:190.

d) By Spiritual Warfare (Eph 6:10-20): Satan’s main purpose/goal is to destroy our Joy, to destroy our Peace, to
destroy our hope which leads us in to failure. Knowingly or unknowingly we are falling to the devil’s dragnets
through different attractions/temptations which results spiritual poverty, carnality, depression and backsliding in
our lives. (James 4:7).

e) By Bearing the Fruits of the Holy Spirit: It is the hallmark of an excelling Christian. Galatians 5:19-21 and
Galatians 5:22-24.

B) IN OUR ACADEMIC LIFE AND OTHER AREAS

(JAMES 1:5-8): THINGS TO DO –

a) In Our Room or Home:

1) Read the complete syllabus to understand and to get an overall idea on the course.
2) Organize schedule of the day apply and practice the “do it now” (do not say tomorrow) principle to the
regular study hours, doing assignments/ home work on your own and in time.

2) Read the topics in advance, revising once/twice, do not depend on other’s notes/ material, prepare your own
notes in your own way to understand/remember easily.
3) Concentrate on concepts and themes, think and apply.
4) Solve old question papers and expert/master the subjects in which you are good/easy for you; give much
attention to the weaker subjects to improve slowly.

b) In The Class Room:

1) Be punctual and attend all the classes without fail
2) Be attentive in the class
3) keep away sleepy and lazy body and mind & pay rapt attention to the teacher in class
3) Make your own simple notes, highlight important points during the lesson/ revision time.
4) Ask genuine doubts.

c) In the Library & Campus or College:

1) Maintain healthy relationship with all kinds of people without losing our dignity and modesty, sanctity of the
society and moral values (Romans 12:18).
2) Try to spend time as much as possible in the library and use it properly; apart from our text books read
general knowledge books and newspapers, current affairs to update ourselves.
3) Don’t be selfish and be willing to help other struggling students.

d) In Our Personality:
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1) Mastering communication & speaking skills
2) developing self confidence
3) Developing creative thinking
4) Taming your thoughts, developing optimistic attitude
5) Respecting elders, opposite sex & superiors 6) Honesty in your dealings. (James 1:19-21).

e) In Self Discipline:
Take 100 percent responsibility for your life and write out a plan for achieving your goals, never give up, and
don’t delay. John Wesley said: “in 24 hours of a day that he had eight hours to sleep, eight hours to work, eat,
and study, and the other eight hours he could give to God”. And Jonathan Edwards disciplined his life so that he
often had 13 hours a day to spend in study!

Self-discipline is one of the parts of the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore plan out your day, set priorities & do the
hard things first. (2 Timothy 2:22, 2 Corinthians 5:10, I Thessalonians 4:6).

HOW CAN WE IMPACT THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY? Christian excellence is unique, stands forever
and ever and it will be written in the Book of Life. John Stott said: "We must be global Christians with a global
vision because our God is a global God." The movement when we decided to live a life of success with saltiness
we have to think widely and we have to take initiation to solve the problems of the mankind in order to
transform the society. This is the way of Jesus ministry model; so we as Christian students apart from our
spiritual life and academics, we can move forward & take a step to impact the Church and society. We can
impact through prayer, readiness to take responsibilities in the Church. We can widely use our talents and gifts,
writing articles to the news papers and magazines, involving in holistic ministry, social and voluntary
organizations, NGO’s, mission organizations, Christian students’ organizations etc. in order to establish peace
and righteousness and to transform society. Jesus said: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God” - Matthew 5:9. We can see that God is working outside the Church & nowadays many
unbelievers are excelling their respective fields and influencing the World, what about us? Are we really
excelling in our respective field? Are we really making a difference?

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES AHEAD? On the way of Christian excellence we may face ups and
downs, failures, pains and struggles, but all these are part and parcel of our Christian life with saltiness. We
have to face them because they included in the package of success. Colin Powell said: “There are no secrets to
success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure”. Friends, Hard work is worthwhile,
but empty talk will make you poor (Pro 14:23), so we have to do our part with our best effort (hard work) and
trust in the Lord and let the other part will do God. Remember the great men and women of God who and how
excelled in their lives. (Paul said): “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set
before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God” -
Hebrews 12:1-2. Now these witnesses who succeed with saltiness in their lives are watching us from the
heavenly auditorium to see our success and saltiness. Are we willing to live like them? Why not? The same God
who gave the success to them is with us today. Mahatma Gandhi said: “I like your Christ; I do not like your
Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ; If Christians would really live according to the teachings
of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.” Friends, let us take all these challenges
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and will make a commitment to live according to the teachings of Christ and to fulfil the unchanging will and
purpose of God in our lives to do the mission of God so powerfully through our life of excellence. May the Lord
Jesus Christ’s unfailing love and grace enable us to succeed with saltiness and to glow for God!!!

- Kasepogu Gabriel, B.D.III, UBS, Pune, gabrielwithjesusfrom1994@gmail.com, 8055773292.