Work don’t worry

After much publicity of the many problems in my early life and success in my later life, I am besieged daily by those who desire information about how I overcame such tremendous odds and succeeded in life and business. I literally get correspondence from people all over the world on a daily basis. In addition I am being asked to appear on TV shows, radio, be interviewed for various publications etc. Prior to this I was not aware of just how many people there are in this world who want to succeed, but are discouraged and seem to be floundering through life and want direction from someone.

I give God the glory for transforming my life and His word, (the Holy Bible), the credit for maintaining it. I honestly believe that the closer we can come to understanding and modeling our lives according to biblical principles, the more we will succeed in life and in achieving God’s purpose for our lives. If we “truly” think of God as our Creator and that He designed us and knows exactly what we need to do in life in order not just to succeed, but to succeed wildly, it becomes easier to follow the carefully laid out instructions in the Bible which I compare to His owner’s manual. It is quite simple really; if we earnestly try our utmost to follow the instructions that are carefully laid out for us in the Bible, we will get far better results.

With that said we must do our part. Unfortunately it is my belief that many people, particularly young people, are living in an “entitlement” age whereby they believe that they are entitled to the good life. Many want the good life without putting in the time and effort required for the same. The Bible tells us that if we do not work, we should not eat. Sound harsh? Sound like a loving God? This comes from our Creator, the all knowing God who created the entire universe. God designed us in His image and all one need do is look around at His fabulous and wondrous creation to understand that He designed us to work like He does. It should be noted by one and all that He practices what He preaches and works diligently Himself.

God’s example in Genesis was that He worked six days and then rested one. Most people, (including even today’s “astute” business executives), do not buy into this harsh of a work week, but to me it is quite obvious that our effort should be based upon God’s own example, and not what society has deemed to be proper. Does this sound like this is old fashioned? It is! Genesis was the first book written. Look also to our founding fathers; this great country was founded and built upon such principles and not a four day work week. (Let us pray that it is not destroyed by a self indulgent society that has lost its sense of work ethic and pride.)

I have often heard those who are not particularly blessed with a strong work ethic say, “I don’t live to work; I work to live!” To me it really is not work if one truly loves accomplishing great things. I can envision God creating the galaxies, the forests, the migrating honking geese, and my beautiful twin granddaughters and I can see Him with a huge smile on His face enjoying every minute of it. Is that being overworked? I don’t think so. Not when you love what you do.

One way to conquer an aversion to going all out to achieve your objectives is, (again), to go to the Bible. Paul tells us in the Bible that we should run each race in such a manner as to win it. I cannot speak for you, but that means to me that we must give it our “best” and have an attitude that we are going to win, not place second, or third, or fourth, but to WIN! How many of us really run the race of life in such a manner, or with the sincere belief that we will really win it? I can honestly tell you that I do. Most anyone who knows me, knows that I will be there until “the last dog dies, and I do not just talk about it; I do it. I fight my battles hard with the intent of winning and I go into battle with the strong belief that I will win.

I suppose the question I am most often asked is how I overcame the mental discouragement of my early situation and how do I maintain a winning attitude. Again my positive attitude comes directly from the Bible. It states, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. I take God at His word on this as I do everything in the Bible. We also know that God loves us because He sent His Son Jesus to die on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins. So there you have it; we have a loving, all-powerful God who stands ready to help us to achieve our goals. Who could legitimately ask for more than that? If we keep this foremost in our minds, it is easy to maintain a winning attitude and work through our many problems.

Finally the Bible just as clearly tells us that we should expect trouble in our lives. God told Adam after he sinned that his days would be “short and full of trouble” and that all of his days he would have to work by the “sweat of his brow”. Trials and tribulation in life should not come as a surprise to any of us, and no one is being singled out, or “picked upon” by God when trouble comes; such is common to all mankind. Therefore we should expect some valleys along with the peaks of life, and trust in Christ that we will not only overcome our problems, but succeed because of them as they build our character and perseverance.

Proverbs 16:20
He who heeds the word wisely
will find good.
And whoever trusts in the
Lord, happy is he.