Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Monday February 1, 2010

I received the following note in response to my letter of last Tuesday, "Your Thing or His." It is loaded and right on target, so I thought you might be blessed as I was.

"Larry; Wow! This hits so close to the talk I had with a young lady yesterday. She asked me, "If you are working so hard to do God's will every day, how come you are having such a struggle having enough money to pay your bills?" My answer was considerably longer than what I put down here, but a concise summary would be expressed thusly:

1. My walk with the Lord has included more mistakes than I'm comfortable with admitting. But I confess my faults to Him every day, and ask Him to help me do better the next.

2. I made a conscious decision long ago to walk neck-deep through trouble if it could mean lifting the burdens of those who were about to go under. And I did ask her, "Can you tell me the dollar amount of the help I gave you last month?" She gave me a fairly accurate answer. Then I said, "We gave our granddaughter about twice that much. I think we used our money pretty much the way the Lord wanted."

3. "You are making the mistake of measuring success in a Christian life by money. My definition of a successful life is how closely I follow the path the Lord has laid out for me. I am here to draw as many into the Kingdom of God as I can. My present project is you. I hope you will make me successful in that."

The above is a general summary of the conversation that took place before the talk I mentioned to you on the phone Sunday night. So now you have the rest of the story. It will be o.k. with me if any of this can be used to encourage anyone else. Dave."

Dave gives one of the simplest yet profound statements on this subject I have ever read. The seriousness of the hour we are now living demands a refreshed vision of a genuine living of the abundant life. I think Dave's line "My definition of a successful life is how closely I follow the path the Lord has laid out for me." should be placed on placards and memorized by every serious life student.

So, how are you doing? Still trying to catch the brass ring, or are you settled in to making a difference in the life of others through ministering to them somehow in the name of Christ?

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit. You don’t have to tell me the response is better than the original article.

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