Guaranteed success

This past summer I had the opportunity to work at a Summer camp in Canada with Young Life. One of the nights was carnival night. On carnival night we filled the whole gym with booths of carnival games, food and fun. I was always at the ring toss booth. Ring toss is when participants are given a handful of rings and they try to get the ring on the top of the bowling pin.

I would always tell every camper to come up really close to the bowling pins that they were trying to throw the rings on. No matter what the outcome I would always give them as many coins as I could fit in a handful (you need a certain amount of coins to win a prize or pie your leader). But every time campers would come up to the booth they would take the rings and shift further and further away from the booth and the bowling pins. Their continuous drifting from the targets was making it so much harder to be successful. They made it so hard on themselves even when I was constantly motioning and telling them to come up nice and close with the intent of success being a guarantee. The Lord does the same for us...He calls us up nice and close setting us up for success. But we, because everyone else is, find ourselves taking a step further back with every attempt at success. Making it that much more difficult to achieve. But all the while, he is still calling us forward. He is constantly motioning and calling us to the point where we have free and unwavering access to success. Regardless of whether we listen, our proximity and our success has no influence on our reward. No matter what, God pours as many coins as He can hold into our hands. He provides abundance of success regardless of our performance. In Him we have victory, always. No matter how far we always drift, our reward, our prize remains the same. “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:16 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 Quit taking a step back...lean in. Quit making it so hard on yourself when you have free access to guaranteed victory regardless of your performance. Come up nice and close where God is calling you to ensure your promised

success. No matter what, He will reward you in an abundance of grace because He already won. He played, He won, yet gives us the trophy to claim the victory.