Friday, October 23, 2009

Am I Happy? Part 2

In Philippians 3:4-6 Paul is bragging . He is listing his accomplishments that he had. He was an extremely religious guy, born and bred Jew, following the law to the letter, doing everything he was supposed to do. He was a smashing success. But after all this he says "I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him". To sum it up Paul is saying that his great success of his life isn't worth manure, compared to the greatness of knowing Christ.

So what happened to Paul? Paul had it all and by the worlds standards he was set, but when he meet Christ everything changed. Please don't get the wrong idea and think that Christianity is anti-success. It's just that God's idea of success is different from the world's. For example Phil. 2:7-8 tells us that Jesus took on the form of a bondservant and that He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of the cross. So how was Jesus a success? He achieved true success by humbling himself and by serving others. Success for you might mean serving like Christ, suffering for Christ, but then being lifted up by God.

So let me sum up everything. God is not anti-success, but when you expect what the world views as success to make you happy you will be disappointed. There is a God shaped hole in your heart that only God can fill. If Jesus viewed true success as humbling Himself and being a servant to others, then we need to do the same. God bless!

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