Whatever you work hard at will be yours if you don’t quit. Be successful in all you do and seek power. You will attain success if you chase it. And after you have attained success, you will live the safe, comfortable life that you have always loved and dreamed about since childhood. Then, all your lifelong hard work will pay off.

21st Century

In this century, if you are not a dream-chaser, a workaholic, or a “go-getter”, you are really missing out on all that life has to offer you, so they say. People work until their health suffer the consequences of non-stop work. But even God, the all Mighty, all powerful had to rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2), why in the world do we think that we don’t need rest? We live in a day and age where levels of stress and anxiety have never been so high. We want this, we want that, and unless we work so hard, how else are we going to get whatever we want, right? But the Word of God beckons us to find our identity in God not in what we do. “Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for wind” (Ecclesiastes 4:4-6). 

Some may attest, But Gisele, we work so breathlessly now so that we can rest later in life after we have found success. And to this I ask: what if the “success” you want never comes? What if you are not given “later in life”? James warns about making plans for our tomorrows, “… you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes”( James 4:14). 

Know what you are: Dust

This life has an end, kind of a silly thing to say, right? But some people chase things as if they will take them to their grave. Nobody will get buried in his or her fancy clothes, no one will get buried with his or her fancy car or castle. The castle will stay and eventually perish.

“ O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before You.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!
Selah
Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather” Psalm 39:4-6!

“So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom”. Psalm 90:12

From dust we came, from dust we shall return (Genesis 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20); this perspective should help us work hard only at things that will matter after this fleeting life. Living in a great house may feel good, but is it going to matter eternally? I know giving to the poor surely will!

Know whose you are: God’s

God never calls anyone to be rich, He calls us to be holy.

◆ “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to us” (1 Thessalonians 4:7-8). 

◆ “He saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9).

◆ “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14-15).

Yes, of course, there is nothing wrong with being rich, because the Bible says that Job was blessed with riches by God (Job 42:12) and we know that every good and perfect gift is from God (James 1:17); so the warning is simply this: don’t chase after things. Don’t fall into the trap of wanting to be rich. Please, don’t do it.“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (what to eat, what to drink, what to wear) will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

True Contentment

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is root of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered from the faith pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:6-10). 

Some may say, “Gisele, that’s easy for you to say because you are seating in California and you probably have everything you want”, and to that I would respond, let God bless you in His timing, in His way. Without a doubt, I know God blesses us with the same love. The Bible says He judges without partiality! The same measure He uses to bless you is the same measure He uses to bless me. We shall always pray that God may open our eyes so we can see His blessings all the day of our lives. The same way God looks at Jesus is the same way He looks at us now (Galatians 4:1-7); Amazing, isn’t it?

True contentment is found in being thankful of the life God has given you and the person God made you to be, not in comparing your life with your friend or your neighbor!

The American Dream is a myth

For Christ followers, the American dream is a myth. Because the American dream is all about comfort and going higher in success and power. But when I choose comfort, where does He fit in?

Jesus still wants you to be great but not the same way the American dream wants you to be great! “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). If our Master came to serve and we want to follow Him and be like Him, why do we only want to be served? Shouldn’t we be zealous to serve instead? “If anyones serves me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” (John 12:26).

To follow Jesus means to be a servant, to be great in His eyes means to be a servant. There is no going around that! Another danger of the American dream is you are taught that you need to love your life. And Jesus clearly warns us, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25).  Hate your life!

Abandoned/Surrendered Chaser

As Christians we are called to be different kind of chasers. We need to first and foremost chase after God with everything in us (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). We want to be the kind of Christians that are abandoned in Jesus’ will, that we have no time to worry about our little fleeting life. Hate your life!
We want to be the kind of Christians that are totally surrendered to Jesus that we don’t really care about our life anymore; because after all, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul” (Mark 8:36)? Hate your life!

Wealth is not worth forfeiting your soul, child. I died on the Cross to save your soul,  Jesus always whispers.

I want to be honored by You Father, therefore I will serve and I will hate my life for Your sake, dear God!
So teach me how, Father God!