2 Timothy 1:7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound or disciplined mind.
Okay! So our lazy day Saturday is here again. Let’s give sincere thanks for it, because many of us do need it after a hard week’s work. And I’m not saying that tongue in cheek, or sarcastically, because many people do put in a decent effort during the work week and deserve a day to just relax and do nothing if they so desire. And then there are those of us who don’t do very much, but still take advantage of Saturday to do nothing. But that’s just life, and there’s nothing much we can do about it.
Anyway, let’s see if we can do something with the quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this past week nuh, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. (smile) And the first one says: ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.’ Now parts of that statement are very true. Our time on earth is very limited, as compared to eternity, and we should not waste it by living other people’s lives, as per their sometimes unreasonable or unreasoned thinking.
And I guess they have dogma in a negative light here, although we do need to see it in a positive one, where ‘an official system of principles or tenets concerning faith, morals, behavior, etc.’ is necessary, if a society is to live in harmony and not constant chaos. The problem is that sometimes others take those principles too far, or too much for granted and want to keep us tied down to them, thus change and improvement are impossible. But then again, no society can exist and prosper without a certain amount of change. The same goes for individuals.
So, we all need to put on our thinking caps and consider what is actually good for us, despite what others think or say. And as a believer in Christ Jesus, we have the best brains from which to pluck that wisdom; the brains of Almighty God! Yes friends, we can always go to the fountainhead of wisdom and ask for some. As James, Jesus’ brother writes in the Good Book. ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not (without reproach); and it shall be given to him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering (not doubting).’ (James 1:5-6)
There we have it my brethren. True wisdom is available to us if we ask it of the Lord in faith, not doubting. And we know that He has a plan for every life He creates, so we can kill two birds with one stone there: going to Him for basic wisdom and also asking His plan for our individual lives. Wow! No other faith offers such an amenity! (smile)
And that takes us to the next quote: ‘Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.’ Yes, by no means should believers fear failure so much, that it keeps us from getting into the game of life. For remember these immortal words of Bruh Paul to Timothy on the subject. ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound or disciplined mind.’ (2 Tim. 1:7)
That’s the absolute truth! And one of Jesus’ favourite sayings while here on earth was ‘fear not.’ Thus, though fear will come against or upon us, it should not prevent us from living a wise and fulfilling life, especially if we are true believers in Christ, because He died for us to have an abundant life, beginning right here on earth. (John 10:10)
Consequently, all of that is showcased in this next quote which proclaims: ‘Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.’ And that’s the gospel truth my brethren! Too often, too many of us give up just before we are about to taste the sweet flavour of success. And why is that, you ask? For many reasons, like lack of funds to continue, lack of passion, frustration from too many failed times, push back from others, etc. etc.
But what we don’t realize is that the old adage, the darkest hour is the one just before the dawn, is absolutely true! The toughest times in our lives are when we are just about to achieve success. So, it behooves us not to give up, to always do our best to keep keeping on, even when it looks the gloomiest, especially if you belong to Jesus, because there’s no giving up in His vocabulary. (smile) And that keeping on is not always easy to do, but please remember that with Jesus, everything is possible!
And so, we come to this interesting quote. ‘Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.’ Truthfully, I don’t know what to say about that nuh. (smile) Because on one hand it seems to be true, but on the other hand, I have the feeling that money and success do change people. I’ve seen too many people who seemed genuinely down to earth get swellheaded, arrogant and egotistic after achieving a li’l success and money. Oh, I know that deep down many of us harbour attitudes of pride, arrogance, greed and egotism, attitudes that don’t show up if we have no material wealth or success to talk about.
But are we inherently that bad? I refuse to believe it. If so, what happens to those Christians whom the Lord chooses to bless with money and success eh? And there are plenty of them around. Do they all turn into evildoers? Think of the relatively poor woman in the U.S. who recently won a billion dollars. Is she suddenly going to become and ogre? Now it’s certainly possible, but I prefer to believe that there must be some inherent goodness in mankind, that the acquisition of success and money won’t turn us all into evil monsters.
Look at all the wealthy and successful people in the Good Book, who weren’t evil, but godly. People like Abraham, Job, Cousin Sol, Bruh David and a host of others. If we have Jesus as the foundation of our lives, material wealth and success should not bring out the evil in us.
And the last quote declares: ‘Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.’ Now that’s true! Happiness doesn’t just fall from the sky; it comes as a result of something we do, some action we take. But unfortunately, not everything we do brings us happiness. That’s possibly because we haven’t done the right thing or things that bring happiness. But be assured that we won’t see happiness unless we get up and seek it. It’s out there just waiting for us to come and get it.
And in closing, I’ll be even so generous as to tell you where to find that happiness you’re so badly needing and looking for. (smile) True happiness is only found in the Son of God, the One called Jesus, the Sinless One who died on the cross at Calvary to redeem our sinful souls! Only by accepting Him as Lord and Saviour, will you ever find true happiness! And that’s the indisputable truth! Much LOVE!
…everything in life becomes better…when Jesus is our foundation stone…
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