Ministry and Sound Doctrine Built on the Foundation of The Lord's Church

Tag: success

For Your Audience or For God?

I have not posted a blog in quite some time and apologize to either my readers or to the ether (more likely to the latter) for my neglect. If things are not on my mind I typically choose not to write – but I’m breaking this cycle today. I really don’t know what I will write but I believe that it will have something to do with the title of this essay.

I think it does a person well to ask themselves if they are living life for an outside audience (those of flesh and blood) or if they are living life for God. If one is living life for an outside audience I believe that one should be ready to stifle their assertions and tone down their message. This especially applies when one is discussing the controversial topics that God puts forth at truth.

For success delivering messages in this world:

  1. Only reveal truths that people will like, can handle, or will tolerate.
  2. Make it exciting and full of hope (even if the topic isn’t really so full of hope after all).

If one were to follow these two guidelines then I am quite confident that they would have “worldly success”. However, worldly success is like a vision of island vapor oscillating in the desert heat – it lulls but fails to satisfy. Still, so many trade their honor and integrity for such an illusion. In fact, they often trade their very souls for such a vacuous mirage.

Didn’t Eve (and Adam too) trade the Garden of Eden for such illusory power? Did they not partake of that forbidden fruit only to turn to one another reviling their nakedness? Too often today we see those promoting truth (that of Jesus our Savior) pushed to the wayside for the glory of a promising mirage…

Alas, the journey to the mirage is one of carefree and impetuous whim – no worries, only castles in the air. But will the charade be so full of glory when one dips their head to the shimmering aquatic hallucination and receives nothing aside from a mouthful of dry sand? Such it will be in the day of judgment and such we should seek to avoid.

Climbing Down the Ladder of Success

Recently I looked up someone on the internet (someone famous) to see how they were doing. It turns out they had passed away recently. I was saddened by this and decided to look into their history – or rather how they had attained their success.

I was able to piece together some of the “moves” they had made to climb the ladder of success. A marriage to someone big in the industry here, a friendship with a big player there. When you combine that with some talent you very likely have yourself a star (how bright or long that star shines is a different story).

Then it came into my mind – if this person was not a Christian then they had actually climbed down the ladder of success during their lifetime. They had failed in their ultimate achievement…and now it was all over. No more hits, no more crowds, and alas – no more chances.

What misery to work so hard just to have it all turn to ashes in your hands at the moment of death. Let us all put the ultimate achievement at the head of our lives – let us all follow Christ and achieve true happiness through the glory of God.

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