Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, Ephesians 5:15

 

Most successful people have learned to do three things: (1) Evaluate. Too many of us are like the merchant who was so busy trying to keep the store clean that he forgot to open the front door! The reason you're in business is to have customers and to make a profit, not to keep the store clean. Base your decisions on your purpose. (2) Motivate. 'David encouraged himself in the Lord', because there was nobody else around to do it. Jude writes, '...building up yourselves...praying in the Holy Ghost' (Jude 20). When you learn to encourage yourself, pray for yourself and feed yourself, you've moved from milk and nappies to char grilled steak! (3) Eliminate. Did you hear about the family who moved to the country to get away from the noise and the traffic? Intending to raise cattle, they bought a ranch. A friend visited them and asked what they'd named the ranch. Dad said, 'I wanted to call it The Flying-W, but Mom wanted to call it The Suzy-Q. One of our sons liked The Bar-J, but the other preferred The Lazy-Y. So we compromised and called it The Flying-W, Suzy-Q, Bar-J, Lazy-Y Ranch.' The friend asked, 'How are your cattle doing?' Dad replied, 'We don't have any - they didn't survive the branding!' William H. Hinson wrote, 'He who seeks one thing may hope to achieve it. But he who seeks all things, will reap from all he's sown, a harvest of barren regret.' Think about it!