Success Screams At You
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller of New York City, and the Scripture verses Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Adversity and blessings can show you the idols of your heart. Cynthia Hymal used to write for the Village Voice, and she lived in New York City for many years and got to know a lot of people when they were struggling artists, actors and actresses. Afterwards some of these people would hit it big and become celebrities, so she knew a lot of people before and after. Here is what she says about celebrities.
I pity celebrities, I really do. Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Barbara Streisand were once perfectly pleasant human beings, but now their wrath is awful. I think when God wants to play a really rotten little joke on you, He grants you your deepest wish and giggles merrily when you want to kill yourself. Sly, Bruce and Barbara wanted fame; and the morning after each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose. Why? That giant thing that they were striving for, that famed thing that was going to make everything okay and make their lives bearable and provide them with personal fulfillment and happiness had happened, and they were still them. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable.
Now Cynthia Hymal is not right about God playing a rotten, dirty trick on you. However, unless you are delighting yourself in the Lord, certainly she is right in saying that the worst thing that God can do to you (see Romans 1:24-32) is to give you the desires of your heart. Very few of us get the ultimate success, but the few who do are absolutely appalled. There is an awful lot of dysfunction and unhappiness amongst the very elite, and there are all sorts of studies that prove it. Why would that be? The few of us who do make it to the very top suddenly see something that is appalling. There is something so wrong with the human soul, a vacuum so big that you can put in 3 million dollars, 10 million dollars, you can become the biggest star and celebrity in the world, and you still are not going to be happy. It still will not fulfill you and be enough.
When you realize that you begin to ask yourself what in the world will ever satisfy me? The Bible says that the hole is God shaped, and therefore success screams at you that you need God.
Champions, have a great summer!-David Vining
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