I've always liked him, and been frustrated by his ability to hang around with the bat and get vital wickets with his spin bowling. He may not be the most naturally talented cricketer ever to grace my favourite sport, but he is a player of great character, tenacity and longevity. Those characteristics are successful in themselves, and I consider Vettori to be a successful player and captain of New Zealand, and I think that he epitomises the Bible word for success - faithfulness.
We can't all be the most talented, or gifted, or intellectually astute, or charismatically attractive people, but we can all be faithful. Almost as soon as I type those words I can sense the unspoken understanding that when we label someone 'faithful' what we really mean is that they are just average and not really living up to potential. God forgive us.
Both Matthew and Luke record the importance of faithfulness to the work of God in our lives (Matt. 25; Luke 19), Paul reminds us numerous times that God is faithful, and in Revelation 19 the triumphant returning Christ is called Faithful and True! Faithfulness is a great virtue, one of the fruit of the Spirit, and a characteristic to be treasured and aspired to. Faithfulness isn't doing what you've always done hoping one day to be noticed, but is a life lived fulfilling the calling of God on your life with patience and humility.
Thank God for the many faithful people we will never hear of. Men and women who will never grace the stages at our conferences, will never write books, will never be seen on our tv screens or lead our biggest churches. But in an age characterised by a lack of commitment and celebration of style over substance, perhaps we need to hear and learn from and know these nameless and faceless faithful servants who carry forward the Kingdom of God day by day, month by month, and year by year. Perhaps these are the voices who will help us find the simple joy of 'living peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is pleasing to our God and Saviour.' (1 Tim. 2)
We live in a success oriented culture, and I am a great believer in seeking to be successful, but perhaps what needs consideration is our definition of success. The way of Jesus was and is subversively counter-cultural, therefore our understanding of what success means in the Christian context is also counter-cultural. Fame, riches, power, quantifiable achievement all have their place, but none define Biblical success. Each area of life has different measures of success: in business it may be profitability; in sport, runs or goals or gold medals; in music, albums sold; in acting, movies made or Oscars earned; but in the Christian life, in the body of Christ, success is defined by faithfulness to the vocational calling on our lives and diligently outworking that with the help and empowering of the Spirit.
When we measure our lives (or those of others) by the standards of our secular culture we abandon the counter-cultural and freedom bringing standards of the Kingdom of Christ. Where the guiding principles of our lives, our businesses, our organisations and our churches are those of our culture, we no longer express that there is a different way to live, the way of Jesus. But when we celebrate and recognise the faithfulness of each person who humbly and 'successfully' lives each day within the capacities and gifts they have been given for the glory of God, we prophetically declare the Kingdom of God has come and that there is a new way of being human in this world.
As I have been writing this, Daniel Vettori was run out for 96. He didn't fulfil his potential, he didn't get his ton. But he has saved the innings for NZ and done more than any of the more talented and celebrated batters did. Success as defined by our culture is over-rated, it is mostly here today and gone tomorrow. But faithfulness, humbly and diligently imaging the presence of Jesus in our lives, that is the kind of success that will truly echo for eternity.
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