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Is Success......?

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• Is Success......?

• Is Success......?

  praise_yeshua > 05-21-2018, 08:31 PM

  Our greatest enemy?
  
  Think about it....
  
  We strive and struggle to get what we want...... and we get it........Just what have we accomplished?
  
  When Solomon got it all.... he saw the truth. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. 
  
  Vanity is more than just laboring in vain or doing something for nothing. Its often success........ without any meaningful difference. We pray. We struggle. We strive for our desires.... and we get them. We even thank God for them......... and.....
  
  What exactly have we got?
  
  I know this often an "old person" question. It takes time and experience to learn. I wish it wasn't that way. I remember the warnings. I remember the call to things Eternal..... Somehow it just doesn't often truly mean much of anything until you EXPERIENCE it yourself. 
  
  
  I remember hearing and even saying myself.... "If my labors changes just ONE person, it will be worth it all". 
  
  I realized some time ago that its really "Even If my labors don't change anyone, it will be worth it all". 
  
  In the end, we have a rather poor belief what true success means........
  
  True success only comes by pleasing God and often pleasing God means not pleasing ourselves.

• RE: Is Success......?

  aleshanee > 05-23-2018, 09:12 PM

  i think what solomon discovered after achieving the ultimate in wealth and riches, was the same thing alexander realized after he had conquered the entire known world....... ....the truest joy and bulk of rewards related to any endeavor is not found when the goal of your endeavor is achieved... ..it;s something that is realized daily... and little by little along the way........in other words it;s not the destination..... .it;s the journey.... ................
  
  the trouble is most people.... including solomon and alexander.... don;t realize that until their journey is done..... and they sit among all the spoils that have brought them no satisfaction.... .. possibly remembering with regret all the little pleasures they ran past with haste, and ingored along the path that got them there.... ..literally the roses they failed to enjoy along the way.... ....and which it is now impossible for them to return to....... 
  
  solomon noted that all he had worked so hard for was vanity.... .. alexander lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer..... ...it is believed that the still very young alexander then succumbed to disease - exacerbated by a weakened immune system and over worked body... .. the real final reward for all his work in conquering the world..... .... ......
  
  solomon also died relatively young, most likely due to over indulgence in the lavish riches he had acquired..... ...but at the end of his book, ecclesiastes.. where he acknowledged how vain his life works had been, he gave us one gem of wisdom that i believe is one of the most profound statements in scripture... .. he said.... "fear God and keep His comandments..... for this is the whole duty of man..... " ... if at the end of our lives we can say we have done that.... then it can be said we found success.. .. no matter how rich or poor we might have been.... .or whatever else we might have or might not have accomplished...... because that statement of solomon tells us where the roses along the way truly are...... ... and everything else really is vanity..... ...

• RE: Is Success......?

  The Rogue Tomato > 05-24-2018, 12:01 AM

  It is for some people. Not so much for others. I had about a 10 year period of career success, and while I didn't do anything particularly bad, I definitely struggled with keeping my eye on Jesus. God rescued me from that success in a big way. LOL -- career down the tubes.

• RE: Is Success......?

  aleshanee > 05-25-2018, 12:12 AM

  i know that feeling.... of a career going down the tubes.... ...if you can call starbucks a career..... and it all happened so fast... within a single afternoon... . .....also know the feeling of big plans and years of study for a future career going nowhere.... ...that would have been a career in the real sense that most people think of when they think of careers.. ..and it had the potential to pay really well..... .... ..but it wasn;t meant to be... ...at least not yet..... ... ..i grew up thinking i would have been happy in that kind of work.... but recently i have wondered about that... .and thought maybe i wouldn;t... ....though it might have provided a good income it also would have been astronomical stress... ......... .how would i have handled that?... ...... ..i really don;t know........ ..... . .....ironically the happiest i was on any job i ever had was on the one where i made the least amount of money... ... ..and where there was virtually no stress. .. .. ..unless it's stressful thinking that the boat could sink and we would all be lost at sea... ... ....but i never did think of that at the time.... . .. .. was having too much fun.... ....... 
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