Good morning my dear PEPpers and far flung family and friends!
Following is my new quotation of the day. It got me to thinking…
- 110318: “The Bible never calls us to succeed apart from God’s help. Our success always has a built –in faith element to it. Without faith, we aren’t going to receive anything from God (James 1:6-8). Without faith, we do not access God’s help.” _Charles Stanley, Success God’s Way, pg. 200
In many ways “success” is a new word. Generations of people lived out their lives with no concept of being a success. Their lives were more about survival. They lived a life of service. They served the land, their overlord, their families and their God. Yet if history is accurate at all, in the midst of their labors and the inevitable difficulties of life the countless generations of humans that have lived did so experiencing love and joy, fun and feasting, and finished their lives with the hope of Heaven.
My point is this: In spite of all the emphasis on being a success during the last hundred years or so; I’m not sure we’re any better for it. The drive to succeed requires in many cases that we succeed at someone else’s expense. We push and drive ourselves to meet company expectations, deadlines, profit margins and quarterly goals; all so we can be a “success.”
But at what cost? I know of far too many successful people with loads of “stuff” that lost their family, their faith and their hope of a better future. I suspect that being a success is overrated. One hundred years from now all that is going to matter whether you are a “success” or not is where you spend eternity and who you took with you.
Succeed if you must, but do so with God’s help; and then you can be assured that you succeed in the things that really matter.
The ONE THING 
Success or Prosperity that is preached today is supposed to be God centered. Paul prayed that we should prosper even as our souls prosper. Does this not give us a hint on how to prosper? The prosperity that we do enjoy is also God centered, Jesus and the Apostles preach on helping the poor, orphans, and widows, so even this prosperity has a purpose or mission if you will. Much less our gift of the tithe, this is really a gift from God. He gives to you and you only need to give back 10% and you can keep the 90%. Man has never offered a deal like that! We give it back to honor, respect and in thankfulness. The tithe is through out the bible if you look for it, maybe not in money but even in the actions of God.
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So true Pastor. Stuff is dead but Jesus is alive! Love the picture of the two little cherubs. Have a blessed day….Love Ann & Joe
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