We all know people who are very efficient but constantly stressed, and others who are more laid back but sometimes struggle to accomplish what they hope to. My desire is to explore how we can live productive, purpose-filled lives while also experiencing true peace in our hearts.

<p>We all know people who are very efficient but constantly stressed, and others who are more laid back but sometimes struggle to accomplish what they hope to. My desire is to explore how we can live productive, purpose-filled lives while also experiencing true peace in our hearts.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Esteban Arevalo

From Successful Efficiency to Restful Peace

Dear Lord, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here with so many friends and family as well.

Thank you so much that we can serve you on this Sabbath day.

And Lord, I just want to pray that as we all are in our walk with you, learning in different ways, in different things, that you can be our teacher today and that we can be your students.

So I know none of us like to be criticized, but I will be sharing a little of a secret with you and I will let you know that some time ago, I was criticized by multiple people.

And to be honest, I appreciate all the people that were criticizing me.

So I have no problems of hatred or anything with them.

But I had a few mentors in different moments, not so long ago, not so recently either, in a certain place, coming to criticize me with the same message.

And the message was that if I wanted to be a better doctor, and if I wanted to potentially consider further training in my medical career, I needed to change a little bit how I was doing things because maybe I was not being as efficient or maybe I was not being as, maybe in the future, if I continued in that direction, basically I wouldn't have such a great success as if it could have been if I didn't do, essentially, as many spiritual activities.

That it was not wrong to go to church, but maybe not as much to go to church.

That it was not wrong to necessarily go to a church conference, but why would you go to a church conference while you are going through your medical training and spend time there while you can also go to medical conferences.

And that medicine is something that requires a lot of concentration, a lot of dedication, a lot of intellect, and that I was maybe not doing it as correctly.

So I appreciated their feedback and I brought it to the Lord and the Lord showed me that there is no other path to success than to seek God's kingdom first.

And even though it wasn't necessarily so appreciated, I knew that in heaven it was appreciated and that was okay.

And today I would like to learn and to share something that I think God is trying to teach me and maybe God is trying to teach you the same, and I think we could learn together.

And I'm not presenting this topic as any expert, but as a student, as I said in my prayer.

And we have decided to name it from successful efficiency to restful peace.

And I don't know how many of you, but in this particular Loma Linda audience, I think most of you are extremely efficient and accomplished people.

And I commend you for that and praise the Lord for everything that you do to bless others.

I don't know how many of you are peaceful people and have constantly peace in your hearts.

Probably a number of you as well, I think, and I praise God for that too.

But sometimes we have people that are more very productive versus people that are very relaxed, and sometimes it's difficult to combine both.

And I think it's something that all of us can learn.

I remember some time ago they asked me to speak for some WMAR students that wanted to study medicine, and I think a few of them are here.

And 1 of the main questions they asked me is, how can you study medicine in such a way that is efficient and that you actually go through in a successful way.

A few moments later, they invited me to a different Bible study group with people that were already studying medicine.

And their question was not particularly how to study well, but their question was how to keep peace in your heart as you go through medical school.

So I was like, well, actually both things are kind of important.

Now from a Christian perspective, the desire of ages tells us something that I think is the greatest motivation to be efficient.

Because someone could tell, I have so much money already that why should I be efficient anymore?

But I think the most important motivation is this 1.

He who loves Christ the most will do the greatest amount of good.

There is no, amen, There is no limit to the usefulness of 1 who by putting self aside makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God.

The Bible in the book of Romans chapter 12 and verse 11 tells us something very interesting.

It says that we shouldn't be slot-full in business, but fervent in spirit and serving the Lord.

Or other versions say, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit and serving the Lord.

So today I would like to just share from my heart a few things that I'm trying to learn myself, and I hope it can be a blessing for you.

So we are going to divide success in 5 steps that are not comprehensive, or the most comprehensive list that you will ever see or anything like that, is just some highlights that I think that God is trying to teach me.

So these 5 steps have to do with God, 1, with planning, second, Third, with developing or executing whatever you planned.

4, with something that I'm going to call waste management.

And each step, because of the title of the service, each step is going to be divided in 2.

1 aspect is going to be the efficiency aspect of the step, and the second aspect is going to be the peace aspect of the step.

So I'm going to start with the first 1 which is God.

So in terms of efficiency from God's standpoint, I think that all of us will agree that God gives opportunities and energy.

If you see for example the life of Joseph, in just 2 verses which are some of the most successful verses of the life of Joseph, it mentions 3 times that the Lord was with Joseph in Genesis chapter 39.

If you see the story of Daniel, it shows in the spirit of prophecy and also in the Bible, how God was very centerpiece in the story of Daniel.

And I love that sentence at the end that says, God gives opportunities.

Success depends upon the use made of them.

I remember, oh, sorry, someone was trying to take a picture.

So I remember when I finished medical school, I was in Chile, actually, at that time.

I had so many questions in my mind, many dreams in my heart, but also many questions in my mind.

And 1 of the main questions was actually what to do.

There is so many things that you can do with medicine and all of them are good.

And some people like only 1 area of medicine and I actually to this day, I like all areas of medicine.

There is no area of medicine that I think is boring or useless or anything like that.

And I'm like, how could I decide how to move forward?

And the Lord impressed my heart very strongly that instead of pursuing any of my dreams and working very efficiently and trying to take the best strategies and have the best possible outcome, I should actually stop and do no medical progress for 1 month.

So after, yeah, it was a little bit impressive to me too.

After graduating, I actually stopped my medical planning and purpose and strategy, whatever you want to call it, for 1 full month in the summer.

Because I'm like, the steps that I take now can take me in so many different ways.

And even though all of them may be good, I know that there is 1 which is God's plan that is going to be the best 1.

And I actually don't know the details of that.

So my prayer was not so that God could accomplish my dream, was actually not to be efficient, was not to be successful, and it was not even to have peace.

My 1 main prayer for that 1 month was that God could really help me and allow me to surrender my heart 100% to him.

That God could really, not just in theory, but in reality, give me 100% disposition to do with my life whatever he wanted me to do.

That he would really give me 100% disposition and willingness to go wherever he wanted me to go, whether that was in my country or in the opposite side of the world, whether that was in a very limited resources type of context or in a very rich context, whether that was in a very remote, isolated, and unknown place or in a very famous, prestigious, and cool place, that that was not what mattered, but was God's calling and that I could hear it and actually do it and that God could actually make it happen.

So I felt that my heart was not so ready for that.

So it took me a little process and I still carry that prayer with me.

But after that, God opened so many doors after that month, like doors that I had no clue about, things that I had tried multiple times before, all of a sudden God started to open them 1 after the other, and I praise God for that.

And I think that there is no other way than to put God on the foundation of our lives for true success that not only impacts this era, but also eternity.

So, the same aspect about God, I wanted to bring it to the aspect of peace.

And I wanted to just speak a little bit about God in times of discouragement.

I don't know how many of you are discouraged.

I'm trying to look at your faces right now, but it's a little bit hard to tell because all of you look either neutral or happy.

But I think all of us have been discouraged.

And you know, I personally think, and the spirit of prophecy also thinks the same, that 1 of the main ways to not be successful in life is fear and discouragement.

And I think that in the great controversy that we live, that is something that is very important to deal with.

God tells us multiple times not to fear because he will help us, but it's very interesting that my character and personality tells us that Satan's work is to discourage the soul.

Christ's work is to inspire the heart with faith and hope.

I saw, she says in Spiritual Gifts, which is a book that my wife is reading, so she shared this quote with me, I saw that the enemy will either contend for the usefulness or the life of the godly and will try to mar their peace as long as they live in this world.

But, praise the Lord, his power is limited.

He may cause the furnace to be heated, but Jesus and angels will watch the trusting Christian that nothing may be consumed by the dross.

And finishes saying, the powers of darkness gather above the soul and shut Jesus from our sight.

And at times we can only wait in sorrow and amazement until the cloud passes over.

I don't think there's many terrible things in life that are really terrible, but I think this 1 is 1 that you could actually call terrible.

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From Successful Efficiency to Restful Peace

Transcript

Description

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Recorded

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My Testimony

56m

Young Professionals

God’s Got a Plan and You’re In It!

52m

Responding To God’s Call To Serve

1h 20m

Plenary

When God Calls You

42m

Advent HOPE Leadership Testimonies

47m

ECYC 2011 Plenary Meetings

The Joy of Full Surrender

42m

Medical Mission Work

02 Undo Heavy Burdens

56m

I Will Not Leave You

57m

The Weight of Waiting

1h 10m

Plenary Sessions

Student/Resident Panel: Keeping Your Faith Relevant and Urgent Throughout Academic Training

59m

Sebastian Braxton: Higher Than the Highest

The Heart of Excellence

1h

Don Mackintosh: Something Better -- Present Reality and Adventist History

A Revival of Proclamation Ministry

46m

Sound Doctrine