SCRIPTURE: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9 (KJV)
QUOTE: Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” -Vaibhav Shah
NOTE:
People want things and want them now. “I want money. I want nice vacation, big house, a nice car, the biggest and best entertainment center. I want it all and I deserve it.” Though today’s “credit card” society makes it easy to “get now and pay later,” However, when economic realities eventually set in, and we are reminded, (sometimes painfully), that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to produce. Pretending otherwise is unsustainable.
The demands of interests are unrelenting and unforgiving. Even working hard is not enough. With the dizzying rate of change in technology and increasing competition driven by the globalization of markets and technology, we must not only be educated, we must constantly re-educate and reinvent ourselves. We must develop our minds and continually sharpen and invest in the development of our competencies to avoid becoming obsolete.
At work, the bosses drive results, and for good reasons too. Competition is fierce; survival is at stake! The need to produce urgently is today’s reality and represents the demands of capital, but the real mantra of success is sustainability and growth. You may be able to meet your quarterly numbers, but the real question is, are you making the necessary investment that will sustain and increase that success, one, five and ten years from now? Our culture screams out for results today. But the principle of balancing the need to meet today’s demands with the need to invest in the capabilities that will produce tomorrow’s success is unavoidable. The same is true of your health, your marriage, your family relationship, and your community needs.
ILLUSTRATION:
Many lives have been truncated and ruined because they went against the principle of timing – the right timing! Life on earth is circumscribed within the confines of time. That is, everything in this earth’s realm is defined by times and seasons. We need to be really careful not to arrive before it is time. This means that we must vehemently resist the temptation of “I want it now” when it’s not yet its time.
REFLECTION:
- Can you pen down some of the aspects of your life you could have so improved if you had been patient?
- Assume you suffered from this loss because you were ignorant of what you just learned. What would you do differently to experience renewal in the areas you failed to improve?
TWO YEAR BIBLE READING: Catch-Up Day, Psalm 150