Eastern Lightning | Gain God’s Blessings After Freeing From Fame and Fortune

Gain God’s Blessings After Freeing From Fame and Fortune

April 7, 2018

By Li Chunnuo, South Korea

    Sophie, an ordinary-looking Christian, who has been working behind the scenes at atelevision station since she graduated in English. But in her heart, she always had a dream of becoming an anchorwoman. She hoped that she could appear on the air someday and be well-known and popular.





    One day, Sophie took her colleague Xiaomin’s car to go to work. On the way, Xiaomin told her: “An English program is going to be started in our station. The planning group is looking for an anchorwoman. The requirements are for this position are that: Applicants must have a good foundation in English, and their appearance can make people feel comfortable and they will be popular among audiences. As long as one satisfy all these conditions, she will have the opportunity to be chosen.” After hearing her words, Sophie seemed to see a gleam of hope, thinking: There are not more than five female colleagues whose English is good in our TV station. Moreover, I graduated in English. It seems that I have high hopes of being chosen! At the thought of this, Sophie began to look forward to being promoted to the position of anchorwoman. At the moment, Xiaomin said again, “I heard that after overall consideration, the planning group thought that Irene is relatively suitable to be the anchorwoman; she has a good appearance and a good temperament, and her English is not bad. Personally, I also think Irene is quite suitable for the job. …” What Xiaomin said made the little hope just raised in Sophie’s heart quenched instantly. Sophie thought: Could it be that the planning team has chosen Irene to be the anchorwoman? If so, then won’t I have no hope?

    Because of what happened in the morning, Sophie was completely unable to focus her mind on her work. She repeatedly compared herself with Irene in her heart: In appearance and temperament, Irene is decorous, elegant, and graceful, and what’s more, she has some societal experience, so she should be able to calmly deal with various issues that may appear during the program. As for myself, though I am all grown up, I have a baby face, and am so introverted that I always feel nervous in the public. Comparing with Irene, indeed, I do not have the makings of a anchorwoman. The more she compared herself with Irene, the less confidence she had. She could not help feeling disappointed, but she could not be resigned to this, thinking: When I wear a formal suit, I also look quite mature and competent. Furthermore, I graduated in English; though my pronunciation is not good enough, at least it is a little better than Irene’s. Considering this way made Sophie feel confident again, but immediately she sighed, thinking: Ah! I have only myself to blame, since I have been out of practice in practicing oral English in recent years, so now I don’t have an obvious advantage over her in this aspect. If not, I would certainly be chosen as the anchorwoman. At this moment, Sophie finally had understanding how reluctant and helpless Zhou Yu was when he uttered the last words, “Heaven! If you gave birth to Yu, why did you also give birth to Liang?”

    Lost in these thoughts, Sophie spent the morning muddleheaded. Then, when she arrived at the dining hall for lunch, she saw from afar that several colleagues, the members of the planning team, were talking as they ate there. She deliberately walked past them, and faintly heard a director mentioned her name. She tried to carefully listen to their conversation, but failed to hear any more. She thought: The diector mentioned my name just now. Could it be that they have changed their minds? Will they consider promoting me to be anchorwoman? Sophie was absent-minded the whole afternoon, for she kept thinking whom the planning team would choose to be anchorwoman.

    That day, Sophie didn’t do much work, and she was physically and mentally exhausted and listless. After work, Sophie got home, with a look of weariness. She couldn’t calm down anyway, and thinking that they would select the right person for the position in the meeting of the next day, she even lost her appetite and couldn’t fall asleep. In pain, Sophie immediately prayed to God and asked God to quiet her heart. After praying, she saw these words of God: “as soon as it involves position, face, or reputation, everyone’s heart leaps in anticipation, and you always want to stand out, to be famous, to be glorified. You are unwilling to yield, always wanting to contend, although contending is embarrassing. However, you are not content not to contend. When you see someone stand out, you are jealous, feel hatred, complain, and feel it is unfair. ‘Why can’t I stand out? Why is it never me? Why is it always he who gets to stand out and it’s never my turn?’ There is some resentment. You try to repress the resentment, but you can’t, so you pray. After praying, you feel better for a little while, but later when you encounter the matter again you cannot overcome it. Is this not a case of immature stature? Is not a person’s falling into these conditions a trap? This is the bondage of a satanically corrupted nature.” “So Satan uses fame and gain to control man’s thoughts until all they can think of is fame and gain. … In this way, Satan binds man with invisible shackles. These shackles are borne on people’s bodies, and they have not the strength nor courage to throw them off. So people trudge ever onward in great difficulty, unknowingly bearing these shackles.” Pondering God’s words, Sophie knew that the fame and fortune is the shackles of Satan binding and controlling people. She was aware that the reason why she kept turning the matter of the election of anchorwoman over in her mind, tortured herself over this, and even was in no mood for working or eating was that her viewpoint toward pursuit was wrong. And because of being dominated by the satanic poisons such as “Stand out from others and pursue to stand high among people,” “Alive, be man of men; dead, be soul of souls,” and so on, she always had desire to be in the limelight to realize her personal worth and be courted and looked up to by others. She thought that since she entered the TV station, she had been working behind the scenes, but she had never reconciled herself to this and instead always had desire to go on stage to prove herself and to be a anchorwoman who was popular with the public. This time, she finally had the chance to stand out from others and be looked up to by others, yet unexpectedly, she met her match Irene, who was better than her in many aspects. Sophieworried about losing this opportunity, so she was envious of Irene, secretly competed with her in heart, and was unwilling to fall behind her. The more she did so, the more strongly she desired to contend, and the less capable she was to obtain. The less she obtained, the more pained she was, and the more she was tortured inside. This simply was a vicious cycle. Even more, her emotions as well as her every move were determined by fame and fortune, and she was always occupied with thoughts of how to obtain the position of anchorwoman. In consequence, that day, not only did she delay her own work, but she was exhausted in body and mind, subject to being fooled by Satan. At the moment, she deeply experienced that she was tightly bound by shackles of fame and fortune, and that continuing pursuing like this would only make herself suffer greater pains. At this time, Sophie couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: Fame and fortune is just the means by which Satan deceives and corrupts mankind. Because my desire for fame and fortune is too strong, I nearly fell into Satan’s scheme. Luckily, God’s words woke me up in time.

    Sophie was very eager to get rid of the pain caused by the pursuit of fame and fortune, and cease to struggle for this. Then she saw the following words of God: “How are these things cast off? Do you have a solution? First, you must see through them, and then you must learn to give up these things and set them aside. If you are always focusing on these things, always struggling for these things, if your heart is fully occupied and filled by these things, if you never want to put them aside and you always harbor them without putting them aside, then you are being controlled by and bound by these things. You have become a slave, and you cannot give them up. You must learn to give up and set aside these things, to yield, to recommend others, to allow them to stand out. Do not struggle furiously and rush to take advantage as soon as you encounter an opportunity to stand out or obtain honor. Learn to back off…. Be a person who performs his duty out of the public eye, and who does not show off before others. The more you give up and set aside, the more peaceful your heart will be and the more space will open up within it, and the more your condition will improve. The more you struggle and compete, the darker will be your condition; try it if you don’t believe it. If you want to turn around this kind of condition, if you want not to be controlled by these things, then you must first set them aside and give them up.” God’s words pointed out for Sophie the path of practice: If she want to shake off the bonds and control of fame and fortune, she must first set aside her desire of rising above others, and give up her pursuit of fame and fortune. She thought to herself: It is because I always focus on status and rack my brain to fight for it that I live such a tiring and painful life, and moreover, have no assuredness and peace in my heart at all. She also thought: The anchorwoman is the brand identity of this program. If without good appearance and temperament, the anchorwoman will be unable to catch the audience’s eyes, and therebythe program’s ratings may be poor. Regardless of whether in appearance and temperament or in work ability, Irene is better than me, but I still want to contend. Am I not just consideringmy own desires but ignoring the honor of our TV station? This is simply too selfish and mean! At the thought of this, Sophie resolved to break through the snare of fame and fortune, act according to God’s words, lay down her desires, and recommend others who were better than her. She decided that she wouldn’t ever be like unbelievers, only striving for her own selfish desires. She would live out the likeness of a Christian to glorify God.

    The next day, before the meeting, Sophie prayed to God in her heart, and asked God to keep her heart that whether she could be chosen to be anchorwoman or not, she would be willing to face it calmly. After praying, Sophie walked into the office with easy strides. At the meeting, the head of the planning team briefly explained the requirements the anchorwoman needs to meet and introduced the several candidates to everyone present, and then let them choose the most suitable one for the job after consideration. Sophie listened carefully, and then used these requirements to measure herself and the other candidates in her heart. She found in general ability Irene was most suitable to be anchorwoman. At this time, the meeting-place was quiet. Sophie broke the silence in the room and offered to select Irene as anchorwoman, and told them her reasons as well. Hearing what she said, others also voiced their opinions. Finally, Irene was chosen to be the anchorwoman of this English program. And so, the election of the anchorwoman was ended. Though Sophie was not be elected, at the moment, she felt peaceful and assured as never before, and she knew this was the blessing that God gave to her after she had practiced God’s words.

Source The Internet

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