87a – Maximize Yourself and Opportunities (Part 1)
Think a minute…“The reason many people don’t climb the ladder of success is they are waiting for the elevator.” But we cannot wait our way to the top, we must work our way up. We just need to be sure of the correct steps that will lead us there, so we don’t waste our life climbing the wrong ladder! Today and tomorrow, we’ll look at some of the right steps to success.
The first step is learning from experience. As one successful person says: “I prefer to profit from the mistakes others have already made and paid for.” People who do not learn from experience waste much of their life going around in circles making the same mistakes again and again.
A second step to success is both seeing and seizing good opportunities. “Vision without activation is hallucination.” Successful people don’t just talk about what they plan to do, they get on with doing it. They recognize a good opportunity and grab it before it’s too late. They know timing is everything—so they’re not afraid to take risks. They’re more afraid of losing a good opportunity. The first step is usually the hardest; but it gets easier once you get moving toward your goal.
The person who is waiting for someone else to advise him on an opportunity will probably wait a long time. “The important thing is not to wait until opportunity knocks—it’s to recognize the sound of opportunity when it’s just a tap.” A good opportunity is like a diamond in the rough: most people walk right by it because it’s not already cut to size and polished.
A third step to success is to know when and where there is not much opportunity for future improvement and promotion. Some people can’t read the warning signs telling them they’re wasting their time in a dead-end job—where the road to their success is closed. Someone wisely said: “Don’t stay where you’re tolerated, go where you’re celebrated.”Find a job or business where you fit and can keep climbing as high as your ability and desire will take you.
Today, why not ask the One Who knows your personality and abilities better than anyone to become your career manager? The One who designed and made you knows exactly the right steps for you to take. Jesus’s way is the only way to reach your potential and the success He planned for you. Just think a minute…
87b – Maximize Yourself and Opportunities (Part 2)
Think a minute…“Everyone wants to succeed. Some are even willing to work for it.”Sadly, this small joke is actually the attitude of many people who expect success just to be given to them. There is simply no substitute for work. But we must make sure our work is working for us. Today we will look at the final steps we must take to climb the right ladder to real success.
Another important step is to work at using your own abilities and personality. As the saying goes: “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.” One of your greatest feelings of accomplishment will be when you discover what you do well and enjoy doing.
Your own special abilities are like power tools with which to build your life of success. An Olympic coach said: “You can’t put in what God left out.” So, make the most of what your Maker has put in you. Do what you were specially designed to do. “Pigs can’t fly and fish can’t climb trees.” But neither do they try! They simply do what they were created to do naturally. So, learn your own natural, special abilities and match them with your job and career.
The final, most important step is to make sure you’re pursuing the best opportunity that will give you the best life. Remember, success is not having money, it’s having a high-quality life. That is real wealth. Just as we want to get the most value for our money, even more we need to get the most value for our time, since time is what life is made of. When you run out of time, you run out of life. Make sure you don’t get “ripped off” by spending your life’s time on things that do not give you real, lasting value in return. You only get one life to live, so get the best deal possible for what you spend your life on.
Ask yourself: Is the extra money I’m getting from working extra hours worth every hour I spend away from my spouse and children? Remember: “Overtime pays more because of what you’re missing.” Don’t get “ripped off” by working hard all your life just for money and then learn too late that you did not get the true love and life you’ve always wanted. The life you were created to have that satisfies your deepest needs and desires.
It only makes sense to ask the One Who gave you your life’s time and talents to start leading your life and career? Each day He will help you take the right steps to your true success He planned for you to have and enjoy. But it can only start happening if you ask Jesus to take full charge of every area of your life. Just think a minute…
87c – Use All You’ve Got
Think a minute…Have you ever felt like you did not get a fair start in life? Do you feel that the cards you were dealt have made it impossible for you to win? Listen to this true story.
John Herreshoff was just 14-years-old in Rhode Island, U.S.A. when he built his first sailboat: a racing yacht called Meteor. By the time he was 20-years-old he had built another boat called Faustine. It was the first boat of its size to cross the Atlantic Ocean in only 17 days. When John was 27-years-old he built a steam yacht called the Annie Morse. At age 37 John formed his own boat building company named Herreshoff Manufacturing. Together with his brother Nathaniel, they built steam yachts and torpedo boats.
In 1892, England challenged America for the America’s Cup, the leading international trophy for yachting or sailing. Sir Thomas Lipton’s yacht called the Shamrock represented England in this world-famous competition. America had to choose its best boat to compete for this highly prestigious prize. Every boat builder in the U.S. was hoping to be given such an honor. Finally, based on his past achievements, John Herreshoff’s company was chosen. John and his brother Nathaniel designed and built a racing yacht named Vigilant. It won the race.
In the following years, John and his brother made many more winning boats. But you have not yet heard the most amazing part of this true story. John, who built his first boat at age 14, and went on to set many world-records in yacht racing…whose second handmade boat set a trans-Atlantic record…and whose boats won the America’s Cup 5 times in 10 years…was totally blind from the age of 12.
Even though he lived his life in the dark, John Herreshoff did not let that stop him from reaching his potential and making his mark on the world. You may not have every ability and advantage that someone else does, but that does not mean you do not have all you need to be successful. Won’t you ask Jesus to take control of your heart and way of living? Only your Maker is the One Who can help you start using all you’ve got to make your mark and fill your place in the world. Just think a minute…
87d – Made for Love
Think a minute…A medical school examined 260 different studies of young adults to learn what they essentially need in life to be healthy, happy human beings. After studying all the results, they renamed the entire study, Hardwired to Connect. Just like an electronic machine is wired to work only with the right connections, we humans must have the right connections of love with each other. From the moment we’re born we need love from other people. It’s basic biology.
The results of another study by Columbia University in New York City showed that a father’s love for his children, or lack of it, has a powerful and permanent impact on his kids—for good or for bad. When a father did not have an involved, close relationship with his children, those kids were 68% more likely to get into trouble with drugs, alcohol, and violence. But when children did have a close, caring father, less than 6% of those kids were likely to get into trouble.
Even though he is gone and his life ended in controversy, Michael Jackson is still known as the King of Pop music. His album Thriller is still one of the top selling albums in history. His amazing career started when he was only five-years-old and the lead singer of his family’s music group, The Jackson 5, who became world famous. Some years ago, Jackson shared in an interview that during his family’s first music rehearsal, something went wrong and little five-year-old Michael cried out, “Daddy!” His father stopped everything to harshly scold and yell at Michael, saying: “I am not your father! I’m your manager! And don’t you ever forget it!” Michael says he never could forget it!
Years later Michael Jackson was giving a speech at Oxford University. He was talking about his foundation called Helping the Children. Suddenly he broke down crying so emotionally that he could not speak. Finally, Michael Jackson said: “I just wanted a dad. A father who showed me love. And my father never did that. He never said to me: ‘Michael, I love you.’” Tragically, Michael was so emotionally damaged from his childhood that did not have healthy love in his family, later as an adult he pursued perverted relationships with children as his way of trying to find that love he still lacked in his heart.
Maybe you did not grow up in a close relationship with your parents, or your father never showed you much love. Today, that can all change. You can come home to your true Father Who gave you life. He will always love and accept you. He also wants to show you His wonderful plan and purpose for your life. Won’t you ask Jesus to take full charge of your heart and life every day? He is the only One who can give you the real love you need and were made for. Just think a minute…
87e – Recognizing Royalty
Think a minute…Many years ago, successful country singer Lonzo Green was visiting his relatives. His teenage nephew Jim and all his friends gathered in Jim’s house to meet his famous uncle. But there was one quiet 15-year-old boy whom Jim’s parents would not allow to come inside their house. Just because this kid was poor, they treated him as an inferior, lower-class person, even calling him “white trash.”
When Jim told Uncle Lonzo that this boy outside had a guitar but did not know how to tune it, Lonzo gladly offered to show the boy how. Since he was not allowed inside the house, they arranged to meet outside by the street.
It was obvious to Lonzo that this teenage boy was embarrassed and felt out of place in this upper-class neighborhood. The boy’s guitar was old, cheap, and hung around his neck with just a piece of string. After Lonzo showed the shy teenager how to tune his guitar, he offered to teach him some songs. The boy was so surprised and happy that Lonzo would spend two whole hours playing and singing with him, he started feeling confident in his own ability to play and sing.
Lonzo never met that boy again, at least not face to face. For that same boy who was not allowed to come inside the house, became the King of Rock n’ Roll: Elvis Presley.
There is a similar true story about another king who was not allowed to come inside people’s homes and hearts. In fact, He is the King of allkings. Yet even though He is the Maker of the universe, He chose 2,000 years ago to humiliate Himself by becoming a human born into a poor, working-class family. Most people did not even recognize Him. In fact, not only was He rejected by His own people then, but by most of us today.
Remember, Jesus never said He was only a great man, teacher, or prophet. He declared that He is God Himself. God the Son Who came to save us, and who will come again to judge the entire world for all of our wrong, sinful living. Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord of all creation—whom He clearly proved Himself to be. No other religious leader in history ever claimed to be God, except Jesus Christ.
He desperately wants to forgive us for all of our wrongs, so He can give us His full and everlasting life. He has done everything He possibly can, including sacrificing His own sinless life for our sins, to provide the way for us to come home to Him. But it’s our choice to come to Christ.
Will you choose to recognize and acknowledge yourKing today? Won’t you ask Him to forgive you and take charge of every area of your life? Until you do, you can never have His true life of love, satisfaction, and peace He created you to have—both now and forever. Remember, Jesus Himself said that if you refuse to recognize and acknowledge Him daily as your personal Lord now, by free choice, you will be forced to do it later after it’s too late. Then you will suffer everlasting separation from Him and His true family of followers—who choose to wholeheartedly love Him and live His way. His loving patience is waiting as long as He possibly can. Won’t you make that choice today before it’s too late? Just think a minute…