Saved From Success 5-Day DevotionalSample

Close your eyes for a minute and imagine that you’re continuing down your current path with your current definition of success. You keep working as hard as you’re working. And you keep prioritizing the things you’re prioritizing. And you keep experiencing the strains that are weighing you down. What will your life look like in three to five years? Will your relationship with your spouse be stagnant or thriving? Will your connections with your children be healthy or hollow? What will be the state of your mental and physical health? And what about your relationship with God?

If you’re anything like I was, imagining your future can be underwhelming at best.

Most Christians don’t know they’re on the wrong road. Most of us have good intentions for prosperity and wealth and influence, but deep down we know our hearts have slightly veered off track. We somehow forget that our small detours from God’s way of living become big canyons in the not so distant future. We fail to remember that a little bit of the world’s way can prevent us from His way. For many of us it’s not on purpose. It’s a slow fade—like a lobster in warm water too oblivious to realize he’s being cooked. The trick is waking up, turning back, and moving Godward. . . .

So what if I told you that success is the opposite of what you have been taught? What if I showed you that everything you believe about achievement and fulfillment is faulty? What if I said that you’ve spent your life pursuing a lie that will only lead to disappointment? Would you be offended? Would you reject my suggestion as wrong?

The older I get and the longer I live, the more I realize that culture’s way of success is simply foolishness. That the direction of the majority is actually the opposite of maturity. That what is popular is almost never superior, and trendy does not equal better.

The world’s “advice” will often take more than you’re willing to give and leave you in a worse place than you started. For example, most people are in debt, most people watch television, most people look at pornography, most people work for someone else, most people don’t have a retirement plan, most people get divorced, and most people rent their homes rather than own them.

Do you want to be like most people? Me neither.

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