To: John
From: Aunt Livvy and Uncle Mac
Dear Nephew,
Many ask, "What does it take to succeed in this life?"
This important question gets often asked of those devoid of answers, sought out in absurd places, places heavily trafficked by the clueless in physical and now virtual venues where there is no hint of answer nor for that matter any sincere interest in this vital question. Such a pivotal question as this requires serious thought as its answer has the power to determine the tone, direction, and caliber of the life you will have on this earth.
John, you should consider yourself the recipient of a great legacy dating at least as far back as your great grandmother on your father's side and to you through the Godly heritage on your mother's side. Your pioneering relatives on both sides of your family made strides guided by the mighty hand of God. If you take to heart the answer to this question of "success" now rather than later you will follow a righteous path that will honor your parents and your family heritage. Of course, it stands to reason that it is never too late to receive this insight, in other words, it is better to know the answer on this side of eternity than to go to the grave without ever knowing the answer to this important question. But John, you would be wise to not wait until the end of your life to know and operate according to the correct answer.
I have it on Good authority what the answer is to the question,
"How do I succeed?"
Uncle Mac and I discovered the power of the answer to that question rather late in life unfortunately, but we are thankful nonetheless to know and exercise it now.
Here is the answer, John:
The power is in right moment to moment relationship with Christ Jesus, made possible by your acceptance of Him as Savior. When you accept Christ, something divinely wonderful happens. Christ Jesus comes to live in your heart. That's right. Your acceptance of Christ Jesus, just as you are, affords you the presence of His Holy Spirit who will then guide you through this life. He will open up your understanding, quicken your soul, infusing new life, a life that is alive to God, equiping you to love Him. Your obedience God's Word is how He defines love for Him. [See: John 14:15] John, Truth is revealed in God's Written Word, the Holy Bible.>[See John 5:39]
In fact, the entire Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, points to Christ Jesus, our Redeemer and Lord, He Who is the very embodiment of Truth.
God's Word is True!
God Almighty, the One who created you and the rest of us made sure we would receive an open letter, a letter that the entire world is invited to read. God made sure you were to get His message in detail by putting it in 66 books, transcribed by 40 human authors, to guarantee that there would be sufficient redundancy so you would not miss the message if you actually wanted to know. I have selected a summary statement from that compiled document for you. I have paraphrased it for you to further make sure you get the point. Psalm 1of the Holy Bible outlines the answer to success. Here is what it says,
"Happy", "Blessed", meaning "Successful" is the man that can truthfully say that he has not traveled this life following the advice of wicked people, individuals that have twisted notions; folks with weak-minded ideas that only appear strong enough to sit in when their thinking requires the amount of contorted twists and turns you find characteristic of wicked furniture; those members of humanity that appease animalistic appetites and in doing so neither reverence nor fear our Creator God. The successful do not takes stands with those who violate God's law; nor do the successful comfortably seat themselves, having a stationary place among those who are hardened cynics, critical of all while not offering any contribution to the better. Understand this. Cynics cannot offer the good. Good eludes them because the cynic's point of focus is devoid of God and consequently devoid of that which is good. The very word, "good" finds its root in "God." That which is of God is the very definition of "good."
The happy man, the successful man, delights himself in the law of the LORD; and because God's law makes marvelous sense to him, this now divinely joy-filled, Godly man prefers to order his thinking according to God's Word, judging all that he sees and hears based upon the standards established by the Word of God. The successful man infuses his thinking day and night with the Holy Bible so that the Word, called to memory by the Holy Spirit, serves God's man to maintain worthy aspirations, well-chosen relationships, conversations, and all daily pursuits.
The successful man is happy, not simply because circumstances or people have made him happy. Rather, the success of God's man "bubbles up", "joy-filled", being very much out of the reach of the erratic emotions counted normal accompaniments to worldly dependencies.
God's man is successful because he has sought first a solid relationship with His God, maintaining as first priority his citizenship in God's Kingdom, free now to walk away from sinful life-styles, now having uninterrupted relationship with the KING of Kings, KING Jesus, the Savior, the One Who saves God's man in this world for eternal life in the world to come. But, Who also saves from the murmuring, monotonous, marauding that characterizes empty existence devoid of Him Who is by definition, the Way, the Truth, the Life.
In fact, God says that His man, this happy man, is well recognizable. In God's words, "… he [the successful man] shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf never withers; and whatever he does prospers."
Indeed, God says you can easily see the difference between God's "Happy" man and the man that is not God's man. God calls them wicked and says they are "like the chaff, mere dust or residue, which the wind drives away." The "wicked" lack the internal/eternal stuff that will enable them to withstand the scrutiny of God's judgment, that which can only be withstood by those in whom God can see the reflection of Himself, that is the very image of His Son in the one being judged, where Christ's blood covers the soul belonging to Him. Yes, God's man can come before the judgment bench justified, while those who do not bear Christ as their Righteousness will not even be able to join the congregation of the righteous.
John, for those who receive Christ Jesus as "Lord", meaning "Master", the LORD will divinely intervene and apply the full litany of promises that comprise all eleven hundred plus pages of the Holy Bible. For those who decide to ignore the open invitation to succeed, who decide not to decide [which is also a decision]consciously or worst yet, unconciously, putting off deciding whether or not to be profoundly happy, those who choose to ignore the offer afforded by the inventor of happiness, those people will have chosen by default not to succeed. In either case, there is a conscious choice to be made that you must become cognizant of moment by moment in this life, John. It is not something to be reserved for Sunday 11 AM services.
Being God's man really is a personal choice, John. Your parents cannot choose this for you. Grandma Maggie could not decide for you. Being in church will not do make this happen for you. Nor will checking-off adherence to the Ten Commandments; nor being exposed to religious education guarantee success for you.
Success resides in an active, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, a relationship nurtured by daily reading and meditation on God's Word, the Holy Bible, so that He can inform your choices, give you right thoughts, right actions, and right words needed to best navigate all aspects of this life.
John, your Uncle Mac and I value you as a blessing from God to your parents and potentially a blessing to your generation. We pray with all our heart that you will heed the words of that book.
Don't just dust off the Holy Bible, digest it.
Don't just read select portions of it, read the whole thing.
Don't just read it once, read it every day.
Don't just rely on what others say about it, understand it for yourself.
God communicates this information to you, John, as He directs this correspondence to all who really desire to succeed in this life.
By success, John, I am not talking about avoidance of life's problems nor am I speaking of the wealth in the sense of a mass accumilation of things of this world. Life has its problems, its challenges, etc.
No. By "success" I am talking about finishing your run in this life without regret, avoiding debauchery and dissipation; and, operating in the full knowledge that you rightly appropriated and hence appreciated what God has given you to steward. ["Appreciation" is an economic term with biblical roots exhibited by thinking people, people that appreciate the value of that received. God's man shows thankfulness to God by increasing the value of all that God has placed in his hands. That is the precise meaning of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28)]. As God's man you can increase all that God has bestowed upon you in terms of blessing and talents in such a way that when it is all over you will be able to stand before God, standing not with material items as they will all pass away, but with those things of most value that transcend the material world.
What are these transcending items?
John, such transcending items include a heart that has loved God and consequently (either consciously; or, better yet, unconsciously), a heart that has served God by serving God's interest in other people, and not just your own interests in others or in yourself. You can take the testimony of love that made it possible for you to love even those who are by worldly standards un-love-able, terribly unlovely.
In seeking God First in all things, God makes a written promise to you, John.
In the Holy Bible God says that He will indeed order every other aspect of your life John. He will order your life for His glory and for your good.
John, May you take God's promise to heart and be found faithful!
Faithfulness is a walk, not a one-time event. The walk began with sincere confession of sin to God. He is not interested in hearing anything else until one recognizes the need for confession and does it. Your walk began when you confessed your sins and accepted Christ Jesus as your Savior. Beware. One's walk can be very precarious unless one prays and applies what the Holy Bible says.
Since we are still in this world, John, get use to having a life of repentance. Confess your sins daily so that you walk in right relationship with God.
The wisest persons present are those that routinely delight themselves in and then faithfully apply the truth found in the only item in this world that successfully survived fallen nature of humanity unscathed, the Holy Bible.
John, it would be a good idea to make it a habit to start your day with prayer and Bible reading. Don't just wait until trouble arises to pray. You can avoid a lot of trouble if you develop a life of daily prayer.
Our prayer is that God's Wisdom, the wisdom found only in the Holy Bible, the wisdom required to succeed in this life, will reside abundantly in you, John.
Dear LORD, please hear our prayer in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
---Livvy McDonald :)<><
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