Gtcotr/ss042416
(*Note: Today is the 3rd Day
Since Passover)
I
believe God intends for us to live a life filled with hope. What we do today
can make that a reality. Success in life is most often the result of hard work
and a sheer refusal to quit on God or to give up on who and what God created
you to be. God has given mankind a Living Hope for a better tomorrow. And, God
has created us with His purpose in our hearts.
Henry Ford, founder of the
Ford Motor Company, failed at every early attempt and went broke five times
before he finally succeeded in manufacturing and marketing the early American
motor car.
R H Macy, the founder of
Macy’s Department Stores, started seven failed businesses before hitting it big
on 34th Street in New York.
Harland David
Sanders,
also known as Colonel Sanders, founder of the famed Kentucky Fried Chicken,
faced several critics and plenty of opportunity to quit and try something else.
His famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before he finally
found a restaurant that would accept it.
Albert Einstein did not even speak
until he was 4 years old and did not read until he was 7. His teachers and
parents thought he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Eventually
he was expelled from school and was later in life refused admittance to college
only to go on to win the Nobel Prize and change the face of modern physics.
Thomas Edison’s teachers told him
that he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Then, as a young man he was fired
from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Edison went on to make
1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb before he finally found
a design that worked.
Winston Churchill struggled in school
and even failed the sixth grade. Nonetheless he was determined to have a career
in politics. However, for many years he continued to lose, in fact he lost
every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister of
England at the ripe old age of 62. He believed he was born for the very thing
he finally got to do.
Abraham
Lincoln,
the 16th President of the United States and Commander in Chief of
the Military of the whole United States of America at one of its most critical
moments of existence, was not at first successful in his military career. Early
on he went to
war as a captain and returned home with the rank of private on top
of that he had to walk home because someone stole his horse. He went absolutely
as low as you can go, but he didn’t stop there. He continued to fail in
business after business and was defeated numerous times while running for
office.
1832 – Ran for State Legislature – lost.
1832 – Applied for law school – couldn’t
get accepted.
1836 – Had a total nervous breakdown and
was bedridden 6 months
1838 – Ran for speaker of the house in
his state – lost.
1840 – Sought to become elector in his
state – lost.
1843 – Ran for Congress – lost.
1849 – Sought job of land officer in his
home state – rejected.
1854 – Ran for Senate of the US – lost
1856 – Sought the VP nomination of his
party – less than 100 votes.
1858 – Ran for US Senate again – again
he lost
1860 – Elected as the 16th
President of the United States of America.
All
in all, Abraham Lincoln lost 8 elections, failed in business twice and had a
complete nervous breakdown before succeeding to become one of the greatest
leaders our country, and arguably any other country in the history of the world,
has ever known. He was born with a purpose.
I
can go on, and on, and on with success story after success story, people from
all walks of life, who endured hardship and criticism, difficulties, rejections
and defeats, but who never quit, never changed focus, never gave up and
eventually went on to build their dream.
People
like Michael Jordan who knows the
price of success.
Did
you know that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team? But
he didn’t let that setback or what others thought about him stop him from
playing the game he loved and pursing the dream he had. He said, “I have missed
more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26
occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I
have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I
succeed.”
Success
in this life demands we have endurance when it comes to our dreams. However
success in this life, important as it may be, is not all there is. Wouldn’t it
be horrible to have success and no hope afterwards!
Happily
ever after is a thought we all like. Those are the kinds of movies I remember
from my childhood and they are still the movies I like to watch today. Now
before you decide that I am “Old Fashioned” – think again … Happily Ever After
never goes out of fashion --- morbidity tries to take root in every generation
but God is still the purveyor of a “better day” reality.
During
the past few years I have been finding it more and more difficult to watch
television shows or movies which have no redeeming quality. The movies are bad
enough but imagine how terrible it is to find a person in real life that has no
hope or optimistic outlook for their future.
The
truly blessed are those who are not just optimistic but also realistic, those
who see the situation for what it is and still have faith in God’s plan, still
trust in His Word and still continue to hope against all odds.
Hope
gives us the ability to wait for what we do not now see …
Hope gives us the power to persevere
until we see success …
Romans 8
24 For we were saved in this
hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what
he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we
do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
We
must however make sure our hopes for success in this life and to live happily
after in the life to come is founded in the One True Living God and His Son
Jesus, who is Messiah, The Eternal Word and Everlasting Truth.
God
did not send His Son to save the righteous, but rather to call sinners to
repentance. Eternal life is not given to perfect people, only those who have
been forgive. God has invited every person to live “Happily Ever After” in glory
with Him regardless of their past, their sins, their failures, compromises or
defeats. Salvation is God’s hope for each one of us.
God
is hoping that you will choose to include Him in your life and the situations
you face today. He is your hope of a better tomorrow.
The
Bible tells only one story but the story has two potential endings:
·
One
filled with hope and one filled with hurt
·
One
sets you free from your captors and the other leaves you in chains of bondage
and slavery
·
One
ending when the Good Guy comes riding up on a white horse to rescue and protect
you and in the other the bad guy wins and carries you off to live in a deep
dark dungeon.
·
In
one ending you live happily ever after and in the other you live unhappy,
lonely and tormented with no hope of rescue.
·
In
one you get to marry the richest and best looking person who will serve you,
care for you and make all your dreams come true – in the other you are deceived
and then kidnapped and bound and tortured and abused by a depraved maniac who
only gets pleasure from your fear and pain.
·
One
ending has you living with your family in a mansion with peace and music and
joy … while the other ending leaves you alone in the dark surrounded by screams
and in never ending pain.
So
– The Bible only tells this one story and either ending can be true … Good News
… every person gets to choose which end they want to live.
The
really Good News … Your Happily Ever After Life can begin anytime you choose.
Today there is hope for your marriage, your children, your health, your job,
your finances and your future. Do you have hope? God has given us a living hope
… put your dream in God’s hands and persevere.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant
mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead.
