The definition of success has been highly distorted to the point where is has become a corrosive entity to the undoing of so many lives. Success, as you might suppose, for many is an elusive thing such as a get rich scheme, a miracle windfall, or the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. However elusive as it may be, success will be chased after by many a "hopester" with a passionate pursuit, until somewhere in the mad dash a disqualification is etched into the life of that seeker. A fall will take place, a judge disqualifier will arise, and a soul will be devalued and cast into the "circular file" of uselessness.
Note to the Judge: The strange thing is that the disqualification is usually carried out by an individual who has used the disciplining of other's shortcomings as a cover for their own personal punishment of their disqualified putrefying death of a life. "How long will you imagine mischief against a man? Ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall ye shall be, and as a tottering fence." Psalm 62:3 Living to undo others and get glory from their demise is nothing but the disintegrating fortress of the dead.
Pulling the newspapers over not only himself, but also the warm pan of meat that hopefully would squelch the groaning noises coming from his bloated midsection. Possibly the newspaper insulation would quiet the sounds of the never ending flow of the city night time traffic. "Keep a stiff upper lip" was the motto he tried to apply to his life.
The night did hold a pleasant surprise ... a manhole above a boiler room of a nearby business was creating a foggy covering of warm steam that could keep the stranger and his food warm for the night. (Can you picture this of your brother, your friend, your son or your daughter?)
A fall in this one's past had wounded and marked him, but when he went to find support to heal the scars ... good people saw his stained visage and turned him out to the be ravaged by "to each his own". He was curtly and coldly told what he couldn't do because of his fall, but a plan for his future was simple - File 13. "They only consult to cast Him down from His excellency: they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah." Psalm 62:4 ---- what you do unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto ME!
Whom you fiercely judge out of a darkened heart of forgiveness lost - You judge against the will of Jesus.
There was a knock at our door. When we peeked through door peep hole, what we saw appalled our senses. There was a derelict at our door. No not a neatly dressed and finely groomed visitor, but A refugee of sort and a "bum" in appearance... He was leaning against our door with one of his filthy unwashed and scared hands. Instead of neatly combed hair, his hair was matted, soiled and gnarled. His beard that was rudely, almost rebelliously, unkempt ... torn away in patches possibly to state his need to protest?
His body was bloodied and soiled as if he had never bathed a day in his life. His clothes were ripped and torn with signs that he had been in a violent altercation; and the more we stared through the door's peep hole glass the more we despised the individual that we saw. Personally, I am not sure if he was a man or an animal because his visage was so marred.
I held my breath and said not a word as he knocked again in hopes that he would turn away. And to my relief, the knocking did stop; but was followed by the sound of something heavy being dragged against the pavement as the appalling derelict walked away from my door. One more glance though to be sure he was gone -- through the peep hole I saw only the image of a large crudely hewn wooden "X" over the shoulder of the man ...fading into the distance. File 13 or File 7?
They are all "Jesus!" File 7 - the definition of success:
"He hath shown thee o man what is good, and what doth the LORD require of thee: but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." Micah 6:8
"My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him." Psalm 62:5
Is our life leading others, no matter their situation, to the love and compassion found in the Salvation found of Christ Jesus?
HLFA,
Jeff