The Future#12. “Stay your course…”

I met a brother who said that he used to be an invisible worker in the Accounts Department of a very large firm. “But one day,” he said, “I noticed various government subsidies, that if packaged and utilised correctly, could increase profits exponentially.” When I asked him what happened next, he said, “I was immediately escorted to the general manager’s Lear jet where I became a consultant to his management team.” Surprised, I enquired as to why he gave up such an impressive position. He said, “I never saw my wife, my children, or my brethren. And since what we were doing really didn’t mean anything to me, I could feel myself becoming a person I didn’t want to be. I left that job and went to work in a department store. I’m happy in the Lord now.”

Many men dream of attaining such heights. Who wouldn’t want the perks that come with jetting around with top management? Their advice to our ex-consultant would have been, “Stay the course until you get as much as the position will give you, then go and buy a department store.”

It would be hard to explain to such men that our brother had found himself off course. It was Jesus that brought him to his senses:
“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

When a man is miserable, he is driven into cold, dark places. The world tells him to gather around himself “things” to bring back a sense of warmth and light—they, of course, are all artificial, and they know it!

True Life is found beyond the man. Jesus invites all to give up what holds them back:

“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39).

When you know with whom you really want to go, you have what you need to stay the course.

John Staiger