Tuesday, October 30, 2012

But, What Happens In Success?

Good morning and success to you! Do you ever wish success to anyone? We do pray for success in our ventures and in the lives of others. Business people wish success on each other. Secular folks want success. We go to college to be successful in life. But among all of this success, what happens if I fail at eternity? We struggle so very hard to be successful in this life, and we might just forget about the larger part of eternity along the way. What is this success that we pursue so relentlessly?

To the person with little food, success is a banquet table every day. To the overweight person, success is losing all of the weight the banquet table put on. To the short person success is being tall so that someone might notice. To the tall person, success is being of average height so that less people will notice. The man in the small house yearns for the mansion on the seashore. The man with the mansion wishes for the simple home that does not require enormous expenditures. To the poor person, success is more wealth. To the rich person, success is more wealth. Oho! Finally found something we can all have in common. But, why isn't someone just happy with the wealth they have? If neither the rich nor the poor are satisfied, how can anyone ever be wealthy enough?

It is possible to become so wealthy that a person spends his days in an endless stream of meetings to manage that wealth. Where should we invest? How are the investments doing today? How much did we lose in the stock market yesterday? How much did we gain in the commodities exchange last week? Should we give more to charity, and which charity is honest? Who is pilfering from the till, and where is this leak? Is this wealth success or slavery? Now we are caught up in the discussion of wealth, and what happened to that question of eternity?

It is far too easy to become distracted by the things of this world and fail at eternity. Many are doing it; some are quite good at it. Whatever success is in this world, the pursuit of it may blind us to what matters to God. The very object of our faith, Jesus Christ, did not appear to be successful in this life. Jesus did not become king. He did not lead his people in a historical military campaign to expel the Roman occupiers. He did not gain great wealth in terms of money or even operate a successful business (we could debate what his 'business' was of course.). Our Lord did not win a Nobel prize, an Olympic medal, or an award for performing in front of audiences. No one even offered Jesus a multi-year contract. Yet, somehow, millions of us have found success in eternity through belief in Him.

God's love to you!
Bucky

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