24 May

In his most recent book, How the Mighty Fall, he examines the path towards doom. The first stage of the process begins with ‘hubris born of success’. As with Saul in the Old Testament passage for today, it is arrogance that begins the process by which the mighty fall. Saul started well but did not finish well.

It is more important to finish well than to start well. In the New Testament, Saul (of Tarsus) started off very badly (as a persecutor of Jesus) but he finished well (as the great apostle, Paul).

Jesus, as always, shows us the way. His life was relatively short. He died in his early thirties, yet he finished well. He completed the work the Father gave him to do (John 17:4). This is my ambition in life. I want to complete the work God has given me to do.

What does a righteous life look like?

• Listen to parental advice
  ‘A wise child heeds a parent’s instruction’ (13:1). Honouring parents is high on the list of God’s priorities. Family life and good parenting are so important. I recommend The Parenting Book by Nicky and Sila Lee.

• Guard your lips
  ‘Those who guard their lips guard their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin’ (v.3). It is impossible to overestimate the importance of your words and of controlling the tongue.

• Work hard
  ‘The desires of the diligent are fully satisfied’ (v.4). Work is a blessing. Success can be hard work. It requires diligent perseverance. Winston Churchill said, ‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’
• Love the truth
  ‘The righteous hate what is false’ (v.5). We are to hate dishonesty and love the truth. Mark Twain once said, ‘If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.’
• Be a person of integrity
  ‘Righteousness guards the person of integrity’ (v.6). Integrity does not mean being perfect. It means being honest, real and authentic (it is the opposite of hypocrisy). In his book, Integrity, the clinical psychologist Dr Henry Cloud writes that integrity ‘is the key to success. A person with integrity has the – often rare – ability to pull everything together, to make it all happen no matter how challenging the circumstances.’

How is all this possible? The way in which Jesus passes on his legacy to you is through the Holy Spirit. He will send the Holy Spirit (the paraclete) to live in your heart: ‘The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you’ (v.26, MSG). The Greek word parakletosl iterally means ‘one called alongside’. It has a multifaceted meaning – counsellor, advocate, comforter, encourager, helper, someone to stand by you, he who is to befriend you. A mother is a paraclete for her child. She takes away the anguish of loneliness. She brings presence, security, peace and communion.

The Holy Spirit now lives in us to give us new strength and new love – so that we, the church, can continue the mission of Jesus to the world.

Jesus had thought it through very carefully and had made a great succession plan!