Success, Suffering & Significance

It is 29th December 2020, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.

If we go to the Gospel of John, Chapter 12 and verse 24, Jesus says:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Dying is a painful thing but never be afraid of suffering because you know something? it could one day save your life.

You say, “Angus I am suffering so much at the moment with the uncertainty of the future. I don’t even know if I will have a job next year.”

But I want to say to you that The Lord Jesus Christ is calling you and I to walk closer to Him than ever before.

Change is definitely on the way.

You know, I read a book called, “Half-time” by a man named Bob Buford, and in that book, he spoke about going from success to significance.

There is a big change, and that often happens through suffering.

I don’t know if you remember President Richard Nixon who was impeached because of dishonesty?

His right-hand man was a man by the name of Chuck Carlson. Charles Carlson - he was Nixon’s right-hand man.

He was known as “the dirty tricks man.”

You could say that he was possibly the most successful man in the world, and yet, through his time in prison - because he was convicted of dishonesty - he became one of the most significant men.

Why, you might ask? Well, because through the disgrace, the hardship, the pain and the extreme suffering that he went through, he could really feel for people and he could understand what his

fellow-prisoners were going through in prison, right throughout the whole world.

When he had served his sentence, he probably started up the most significant chapter in his entire life.

He started up a movement called Prison Fellowship Ministry.

He was helping people who were in prison because he understood what they were going through.

From a man who boasted that he would walk over his own grandmother to ensure re-election, he was known as the “hatchet man” for Nixon.

And he became a man of God, a gentle man, a man who stood up for the down and out, for those who had made mistakes.

What caused this spectacular change in his life? It was through suffering, and through that suffering, he met The Lord Jesus Christ.

Do not be afraid if you are going through a tough time at the moment.

Allow The Holy Spirit to change your life, from being a man who is chasing success at all costs, to a man who has significance in his life, who wants to do something for his fellowman.

Have a wonderful day and God bless you.