Success is Intoxicating

Success is Intoxicating

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

You always have something working against you when making personal decisions: you. Personal decisions are emotional, and emotionally charged environments aren’t ideal for decision-making. Your emotions make the obvious less obvious. This is why you’re probably better at managing someone else’s money than your own. It’s why you know exactly what your neighbor needs to do about his marriage, but have no clue how to improve your own. It’s why your kids baffle you, while a complete stranger’s kids just need a good spanking.  When it comes to making decisions, we have a real problem. It’s next to impossible to hear the voice of wisdom when emotions are raging.

Success is intoxicating.   If you are super successful, after a while people in the world will think that you are smart about everything.  Have you ever been in a room where there is a super rich person?  If you are a man, you are like the prettiest girl in the room.  Everybody knows that you are there, and they think that you are way more handsome than you actually are because money makes you better looking.   Have you ever stood in a group or a little posse around a super wealthy or well known person?  Have you noticed that everything they say is true?  Everything that is kind of funny is real funny.  Every piece of advice everybody is eagerly listening to.  What happens is that people come around super successful people, and they intoxicate them even more.  It’s very difficult to survive success.  After a while if you will begin to think you know a lot about everything.  So why in the world would you seek advice about anything?  If you are super or even marginally successful or if you’re recognized in your field or industry as being successful, you’re inclination will begin to think that since I know a lot about this, I ‘m kind of an expert on all matters.  You will naturally resist outside input, and you will resist feedback and council.  You will really resist going to a counselor.

You were born into community, and you need community.  You have two ears and one mouth for a reason, and the only way for you to emerge from your inadequacy is to invite someone into your area of weakness with you and to learn to listen.  Wise people seek counsel. That’s why they are wise. Wise people know they don’t know all they need to know. So, they find people who know. Wisdom isn’t knowing everything. It’s knowing what you don’t know and going to those in the know for the input you need.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Just Follow

Just Follow

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Matthew 9:12-13 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

No matter what you believe or how you behave, Jesus invites you to follow him . . . and if we look closely, we make some very interesting discoveries:

 

First, being a sinner doesn’t disqualify you from following Jesus; it’s actually a prerequisite. The only people Jesus invited to follow him were sinners. In fact, they were often the worst of the worst. The better a person was, the less he was able to even understand Jesus because he kept inviting the most unlikely characters to follow.

Second, being a nonbeliever doesn’t disqualify you from following Jesus. Do you realize that nobody who followed Jesus in the first century initially thought he was the Son of God? They were all unbelievers in that regard. Some people thought he was just a nice guy who had some interesting things to say, while others thought he was a good teacher and were intrigued by the miracles he performed. Nobody really understood who Jesus was, but all were invited to follow.

Third, Jesus’ invitation to follow is not a religious invitation. The message of religion has always been, Change your behavior and you can join us. But Jesus’ message was, Join us and you will change. There’s a huge difference.  Jesus invited people to get close to him, to watch him, to listen to him . . . to simply follow him. Because of their proximity to Jesus and their relationship with him, people began to change.

 

During his time on earth, Jesus continually reached out to sinners, doubters, and nonreligious people. The same is true today. No matter what you believe, no matter how you behave, Jesus invites you to follow him.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

More Dating Advice From Andy Stanley

More Dating Advice From Andy Stanley

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 

When you’re dating, postpone the physical of your relationship as long as possible.  I’ve never heard anyone say to me, “I think our relationship would have been better and healthier if we had gotten physical faster.”  I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that they got physical too quick.  By physical, I’m not even talking about sex.

 

Avoid living together.  Look at the research.  There is no evidence at all that living together prepares anyone for marriage.  The opposite is true.  Couples who live together have a far higher chance of divorce.  The individual that has lived with two or three people, it is almost a 0 percent possibility for them that their first marriage will last.  I understand this about statistics.  It’s only important if it supports that which you are currently doing.  No one ever makes relationship decisions based on statistics because you think that you are going to be the exception.  However, living together is not a path to happily ever after. 

 

Non Christians, don’t date a Christian unless you plan to become one.  When a Christian dates a non Christian they do not accept you the way that you are.  They want you to become a Christian.  As a non Christian you would be better off finding an honest pagan because they will accept you just the way that you are.  If you marry them, they are going to want to find a church, and then when you have a kid they want your kids raised in church.  If they are sleeping with you, it’s even worse because now you are dating a Christian who is a hypocrite.  You don’t like hypocrites, and you are in love with one.  It’s just a mess!

 

Get involved with your local church.  I meet couples all of the time that started volunteering at their local church, and then they meet somebody whose flow is in the same direction.  In serving you are more likely to find the people whose lives and lifestyles are in synch with the ones that you are trying to establish.  If you go to the right places, the chances are likely that you will meet the right people. 

 

No matter what you’ve done wrong or how you may have messed up in the past, going forward, you get to get it right.  You get to make decisions now that will enable you to stand at the altar and say “I do” and be able to keep that promise.”  Do the difficult work of becoming a whole person in order to become someone worth pursuing, winning and loving. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining