Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
One of the hardest lessons I have learned in life is that sometimes when you get the thing you want it doesn’t fulfill you in the way you hoped it would. I am a very ambitious person, and I work hard to achieve the goals I set for myself, but sometimes I have gotten so lost in the achieving of goals that I didn’t stop myself to ask whether the goal I was seeking was worth the cost I was paying to achieve it. As an attorney, I have seen so many of my colleagues achieve great monetary success but at a cost that isn’t worth the income they are making. I know of a man who worked 100+ hour weeks for 7 years and he now makes nearly half a million dollars a year, but it cost him his marriage and any real relationship with his kids. He has a nice house, but he sits alone in it and a nice boat but has no one to take fishing. My point is that it is a wise thing for all of us to sit back and reflect on what it is we are trying to achieve and why we are trying to achieve it.
Jesus teaches us that we find joy by serving him and loving others. Learning to serve others is the key to finding joy and fulfillment because if you simply work to fulfill the desires of your own heart you will always come up short. God made us to live in community with each other and our society through technology has caused many of us to isolate ourselves in a way that doesn’t bring joy to our lives. When I give talks to college students I often ask them what they want to do with their lives, and many of them have good ambitions but few of them realize that the achieving of those goals is not going to give them the joy they think it will. In the past year my business has grown a good bit and I have finally gotten to do media at a level I never thought was possible but sometimes I worked so hard that I forgot what I was working for. Recently I came to realize that to be effective at my job and my faith I needed to have a more balanced life because giving my health, energy and life to achieve career success was draining me to the point where I just didn’t have much to give anymore. Thankfully the lord always pursues his children even when we run from him and he showed me that I needed to trust him and put my hope in him and not in myself.
My friend Pastor Harry Reeder gave so much of his time to encourage and pray for me and it was through his work that I found a better way to manage my time and focus on the things that matter. Another friend of mine, Scott Dawson, was incredibly faithful to encourage and pray for me and he always would remind me that God was good, and he was in control and I needed to live like I believed that truth. It’s amazing how many people are out there who want to serve us if we are simply willing to let them know we need help and advice. I don’t have a profound teaching to give you, but I want to let you know that if you’re not happy with your life and you feel overwhelmed then please seek out some godly counsel and find a way to order your life in a manner that fulfills you. If you want to e-mail me for advice, then I am more than happy to give you a few things that will help. Just remember that the more you center your life around the lord and serving others the more joy you will find in all that you do. Don’t despair when you have gotten into a mess but realize that God will graciously find a way to untangle your life if you just will let him. Don’t lose hope nor lose heart but remember he is with you always until the end. My private e-mail is chris121483@gmail.com .
About the Author: I am a Birmingham attorney who has been in private practice for over seven years. I have a general practice, so I get the opportunity to help serve people who find themselves in some very difficult circumstances. My e-mail is reidfirm@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope it encourages you. I always love getting thoughtful comments, so please email those to me. our website is www.reidlawalabama.com and my twitter handle is "reidfirm" .