Nehemiah 5:14-19
Proverbs 29:2-4
Philippians 2:1-3
Ephesians 5:7-11
Psalm 139:23-24
Chuck Swindoll
“Adversity is a painful teacher. Who hasn’t felt its sting? It can be the heartache of unhappy employment or the discouragement of losing a job.
It can suddenly reduce your status, force you into selling your home, or make you start over in another occupation that has no frills or thrills. Even worse, adversity can mean having to stand in line for an unemployment check.
But there’s a test that’s even worse than adversity; ADVANCEMENT. That sounds wrong, but it’s right! As Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish essayist and historian, once declared:
‘Adversity is hard on a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.’
Few people can lie in the lap of luxury and maintain their spiritual, emotional, and moral equilibrium. Sudden elevation often disturbs balance, which leads to pride and a sense of self-sufficiency – and then, a fall. It’s ironic, but more of us can hang tough through a demotion than through a promotion. And it is at this level a godly leader shows himself or herself strong. The right kind of leaders, when promoted, know how to handle the honor.” Chuck Swindoll
Judge Learned Hand
“I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon Constitutions, upon Laws, and upon Courts. These are false hopes;
believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the HEARTS OF MEN AND WOMEN; When it dies there, no Constitution, no Law, no Court
can save it.” Judge Learned Hand
‘The Will of God as a Way of Life’ by Gerald L. Sittser
“A career causes people to think of income, power, position, and prestige. A calling inspires people to consider human need, moral standards, and a larger perspective. A career does not define a person, nor does it determine a calling. If anything, the opposite occurs. God defines the person and gives that person a calling. Then he or she is free to use a career for God’s kingdom purpose. As Os Guiness puts it: ‘A sense of calling should precede a choice of job and career, and the main way to discover a calling is along the line of what we are each created and gifted to be. Instead of, ‘you are what you do,’ calling says; DO WHAT YOU ARE’”. HOW WE SEE THE WORLD AROUND US POINTS THE WAY TO OUR CALLING.
I know in MY HEAD that there is much that is wrong in the world, yet I do not see it with the eyes of MY HEART. I do not concern myself much with inept government, although I read about it in the news almost every day. It probably ought to bother me more than it does, since it is such a big problem. I do not respond with alarm to nation health-care problems, although I am aware of such social crisis. I do not lie awake at night tossing and turning about global warming and the pollution of our oceans, about illiteracy in our inner cities, or about refugees in easter Europe, although I am aware of these problems and occasionally contribute money to remedy them. But there are things I do see with the eyes OF MY HEART. I see Christians who have at their disposal a legacy of two thousand years of faith, but live as if they were spiritual orphans. I see churches filled with immature Christians who do not know how to connect Christian faith to life experience. I see college students who have four or five precious years to make important decisions about what they want to become and to accomplish in life and who need guidance as they lay a foundation for future success. How do we discover our calling? Or how does our calling discover us? We discover it be embarking on a journey. The journey to get there is a necessary part of the calling itself. Many of us will not know at an early age what our calling is.
That does not mean we have no calling. It is already in us, like a bulb lying dormant in the frozen ground. Our deep sense of calling should send us ON A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY. We have to travel to get where God wants us to go. It is not an easy path we must follow.”