“There are no victories at bargain prices,” Dwight Eisenhower said. Success costs sacrifice. Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book Outliers that people who are really successful have at least ten thousand hours of hard work behind them. In short, years of effort are the key — also on the Lord’s route. To follow Christ on his conditions requires a lifetime of loving obedience. It asks courage to choose every day afresh to make my deeply selfish heart subservient to that of the Lord. It asks true inner commitment to get off my self-made throne year in and year out, and to serve others with compassion. Faith that succeeds in God’s eyes grows forth from a lifetime of commitment and obedience.

According to Danny Jordaan, some people admitted their skepticism about South Africa’s ability to host a successful World Cup to him. Did that happen because they crave bad news, or eat negative reports like sweet cake? Don’t ever allow such pessimists to get to you. Hope always wins. Or did you forget that Christ offers a full and blessed life, with a guaranteed final destination? He already wrote the closing scene for the world’s story. It ends with a never-ending victory feast for all his people. For a change, grab a hand full of hope from his fountain and live close to Him. Be a distributor of the true hope stories between all the naysayers. Be an expert in God’s latest grace moves in the world amongst all the traces of hopelessness around you. Live today as someone who’s seen God’s great tomorrow.

The social researcher, Stanley Milgram, once did research on “the small world problem”. He tried to determine what the chances are that any two people on earth are connected in some way. Put another way, he wanted to figure out how many relationships two arbitrarily chosen people were removed from each other. Milgram’s research found that there are about six degrees of separation between all people. In short, all people are connected to each other in different ways, through friendship, family or other relationships. No one is an island. We need each other. God created us for relationships. As we invest in relationships with Him and others, we make our world smaller, safer and prettier. Wise people that grasp this enjoy the favor of both God and others.

One of the unwritten rules of the religion that I grew up with is that you hear God’s voice most clearly in the church. Meaning, you need to go to church if you want to truly meet God. And yes, of course you also hear God’s voice in the church. But the more I read the gospels, the more I learn from Jesus’ doings that you particularly meet God in real life — there where you don’t expect Him. The short parables of Jesus in Matthew 13, about the treasure in the field or the pearl being discovered unexpectedly, illustrates this movingly. Just open your eyes for a change and discover God working around you every day in the normal flow of life.

It was Martin Luther King Jr who said once: “The soft minded man finds security in the status quo. For him the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.” Too many people just calmly go with the flow. They don’t risk anything new. They also don’t surround themselves with creative people or put in the effort to learn new things. Even their faith is old news by now. It is predictable and boring. No wonder that sooner or later such people start finding fault with everything. Everything that is new in the church and in life is automatically a threat. Be a daily treasure hunter in the spacious treasure rooms of the Almighty!

Recently, I was seated near a loud person on a flight. He was stuck with a hangover after the previous night’s festivities, and he had won a large amount of money at a casino. That he then reported loudly to his fellow passengers. The old guy next to him even had to inspect the thick roll of notes in person. Full of bravado about his new-found wealth, he felt that everyone had to look at him in a new way. Isn’t it strange how money goes along with misconceptions? No, it is not poverty that lands people in jail, or that causes them to waste their money on get-rich-quick schemes. It is greed. That’s why James writes that those who are rich need to be poor in front of God, and those who are poor needs to be rich in Him.

Recently, while I was waiting for my luggage at the airport, two guys jumped at each others’ throats. Apparently, they wouldn’t make way for one another to take their suitcases off the luggage conveyor. Then they started pushing each other around violently and swearing like sailors. It made me realize again how much anger is lying around in our hearts. We are like dynamite sticks with short fuses. It takes just one misdirected word for us to explode. Be careful of such anger. It destroys your life. It is like a virus that steals all gentleness and compassion from your heart. Get professional help if your temper is out of control. Without waiting, knock on God’s door. He has some gentle salve available for your temper, as well as a heavenly Guard for your hasty tongue.

There are two fears that can settle too easily in your mind — fear of the unknown and fear of failing in public. Fear is so strong that there are even organs in our brains, the amygdala, that manage and maintain our fears. No wonder that our brains develop more receptors for fear as we grow older. This is not the way things are supposed to be. We must seek out and destroy our fears, otherwise we will eventually be scared of everything from a cold pumpkin to an ungrounded rumor. How? Well, see fear for what it really is — a faceless monster that’s trying to steal your joy. Later fear might even rob you of your faith as well. The bible says that faith and fear don’t make good bed-fellows. Shrink your fears in your mind. See how the Lord rises far above it.

Fear and alcohol have one thing in common — too much of either in your vicinity and your good judgment goes out of the door. That’s why those who are under the command of fear or alcohol never take good decisions. Watch out for these two unreasonable ‘rulers.’ They steal your freedom! They steal your joy. Liquor and fear won’t share you with anybody, not even with your spouse, your friends or with God. That’s why you need to find your hiding place in God if one of these two ruthless rulers are threatening to enter and overtake your life. Let the Spirit of God fill you, rather than allowing alcohol in. Let joy fill your life, rather than becoming a life-long slave to fear.

To live well is much more important than our earthly possessions. That’s what Proverbs 6:8 says. Much rather less money made in an honorable way, than a bag full made in a dishonest way (Proverbs 28:6). In the same breath, Proverbs 22:1 teaches that integrity and a good name matter much more than riches. To serve God and live with integrity is our greatest wealth, and not the amount of possessions on our name. Wait, it is not wrong to have money. The Proverbs also teaches that money in the hands of wise people is a blessing. But when it starts owning us, then the danger lights are flashing. Then we have succumbed before that millennium-old lie saying that money automatically brings respect, power and happiness.