I have said to my children hundreds of times if you say you CAN’T, then you are right. The moment that you start talking about losing, you have lost. When you start making excuses before the game, project or task is even finished, then you are already done.

People who constantly struggle with failed hopes or dreams – people who have a negative expectancy are people who are usually defeated before they even start. If you are convinced that your actions will not succeed or if the reward will be less than the risk of failure, you simply will not try.

Do you focus more of your time seeking solutions or do you stay absorbed in the problem?

Do you look for the best in every situation  – the opportunity that comes about or do you think about how you will feel when you have failed?

Is your self talk positive or negative?

Have you ever seen a monument erected to a pessimist? Do we celebrate the people in history who were negative complainers who never took a risk? No one would have blamed Christopher Columbus for turning back but no one would have ever heard of him either.

What situation or circumstance do you need to look at differently?

What project do you need to re-think?

What are you going to do differently today than you did yesterday?

It’s time to change your thinking!

When Thomas Jefferson penned the words, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, he would be shocked at what we call happiness today.
Many people today are pursuing the American dream…get more ‘stuff’. “If I could only live in a bigger house; If only I had a pool in my back yard; If I could drive THAT kind of car; If I could afford designer clothes”, etc…then, I could be happy. Everyone wants to be happy but there seems to be a huge gap in what we are experiencing and what actually makes us happy.

There was a very popular movie in 2006 called, “The Pursuit of Happiness” starring Will Smith. It was a true story based on the life of Chris Gardner, a single Dad who was homeless with his young son for at least a year. It is truly a rags to riches story – Gardner goes from being a homeless, discouraged, depressed man to an extremely successful businessman who has a film made about his life! Even though the movie is inspirational (we always like to see the guy on the bottom rise up and succeed), it still makes us believe that the pursuit of happiness is about a better income and more stuff.

Here are 3 things that I know to be true:

I.              Money will never satisfy or bring fulfillment.     
“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:11

“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”  Ecclesiastes 5:10
Some people believe and live the accumulation of money will bring them the happiness and fulfillment they desperately desire.

II.       Learn to be content in Christ through living a life of significance.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” I Timothy 6:7-8
As a young adult, we seem to think that material things and money are the key to success. Many times, our lives are consumed with our quest for this type of “success.” When you get a little older and wiser, you realize that is really not the key to success…you long for significance.

III.      Be a giver, not a taker.

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”     II Corinthians 9:7

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  Matthew 25: 35-40
My Pastor taught me that you are never more like Jesus then when you are giving.
When you live these three truths, you are going to be living the life of happiness, not pursuing it.

     I have been in church now for almost 26 years. I have seen and heard just about everything! I have seen people argue over the color of the carpet in the auditorium; I have seen people throw their Bibles at people; I have heard people curse and get belligerent.

      “I don’t like that kind of music”; “I don’t like that version of the Bible”; “I think the piano should sit on the left side of the stage”; “People should be more reverent in church”…I could list a hundred more statements that I have heard muttered over the years in church. I bet you can too if you have been in church longer than six months!

        Where did we begin to think that church is all about us? How did we develop such a “consumer mentality”? When did we start thinking that church is a Day Spa where you come to get pampered?

      Every church at some point will fall into the deadliest of all traps – the trap of focusing inward. “It’s all about me, what I want, how I want it and if you don’t cater to my whims and wishes, I will withhold my tithe or even leave.”

     One time I was preaching at a church that did not have a Pastor. It was a Wednesday night service and I had my wife with me. A man who was in charge of the service told me that they were going to have a brief business meeting before I preached. I knew that “brief” and “business meeting” did not fit together but I certainly never expected to witness what happened next.

     The church needed a new vacuum cleaner so of course, they formed a Committee. (Aren’t you grateful that God so loved the world that He did not send a Committee!) A 15 minute demonstration of a certain type of vacuum cleaner was presented by the chairwoman of the Committee that included dumping dirt on the stage and vacuuming it up. Another lady stood to her feet and began stating why the church should not purchase that particular brand of vacuum cleaner. Voices were raised, people got excited and this debate continued with no sign of letting up. 30 minutes later, the moderator of the business meeting made a motion to table the discussion until the next month. We sang a song and I was told that I only had ten minutes to preach my sermon because it had grown late and the people liked to be out by 8:00 pm sharp. I won’t give you the details of what I said exactly but I did mention that God really didn’t care what brand vacuum cleaner they bought and we did not finish by 8:00 pm! I was never invited back to preach at that church!

     Let me remind you…the church is about Jesus! It is about what HE is about – seeking and saving that which is lost. It is about bringing glory to the one who alone is worthy.

Let’s put our personal preferences aside and be the church in which Jesus died for.
Let’s pick up and carry the cross…not the vacuum cleaner!