IDENTITY THEFT
STOLEN BY SUCCESS
DR. JIM DIXON
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10, 1 TIMOTHY 6:17-19
MAY 27, 2007
In the course of world history there have been many exclusive and very powerful clubs and organizations but probably the most exclusive and the wealthiest club certainly in the history of the world was called the Jekyll Island Club. The Jekyll Island Club consisted of the Vanderbilts, the Morgans, the Rockefellers and the Pulitzers and some of the wealthiest and most successful families in America. They took their name from Jekyll Island because in the 1880’s the Jekyll Island Club, prior to naming themselves, purchased Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia and there they built their incredible retreat center. Each family in the Jekyll Island Club built a mansion and they used Jekyll Island for hunting and for their retreats. When they gathered there on that little island off the coast of Georgia, just that small group of people, they represented 1/6th of the wealth in the world.
Just two weeks ago Barb and I traveled to Jekyll Island. We had a conference there for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with pastors and also some representatives from the PCUSA and the head of the New Alliance group within the PCUSA which represents about 153 churches. We flew into Savannah and rented a car. We went with Tom and Jill Melton. Tom is the pastor at Greenwood Community Church, a sister church to us. Tom and Jill are good friends for Barb and me. We rented a car together and we were traveling from Savannah down to Jekyll Island. We were debating why Jekyll Island was called Jekyll Island. Did it have to do with Robert Louis Stevenson and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” or did it have to do with Heckle and Jekyll of cartoon fame? We discovered later that James Oglethorpe who founded the Georgia colony actually named Jekyll after a friend of his whose name was Jekyll.
When we arrived there at Jekyll Island and went to the Jekyll Island Club, which still stands and now serves as a hotel. We have a picture of it I believe that we can put up there. I put that up there not really to irritate you although it is quite a place. No question, there are a lot of amenities. I was in meetings much of the time but we had a couple of hours one afternoon and Barb and I rented bicycles and we just kind of took off. We got caught in one of those Georgia rainstorms where the rain just came down torrentially. We pedaled fast. That was kind of a fun experience but while we were there on Jekyll Island I read about some of the history of the Jekyll Island Club members, the Vanderbilts, the Morgans, the Pulitzers, the Rockefellers. It was amazing. I mean these were the most successful families in America and to read about some of the tragedies that came to their families and that came to their lives and how some of them, as the years went by, their lives just fell into ruin. Some experienced horrible disease. Of course, some of them fell into depression. Some became suicidal. It was amazing to read about some of the kids in these families that grew up in these successful families and yet it seems like these kids never really had a chance. Their lives were almost stolen by success and they grew up in these families and they grew up in lethargy. With no drive, no motive, no productivity. Some of them just gave their lives over to alcohol and drugs. It was as though their lives were just stolen by success.
We can look around the room here today and I know that there’s no one in this room that has that kind of wealth, the kind of wealth that was represented by the Jekyll Island Club and yet there’s a lot of success in this room. A lot of you have chosen career paths and you have excelled in those career paths just like Scott who shared with us earlier and yet maybe you’re discovering that there’s a hollowness in that. Maybe you’re discovering that success isn’t all that it was cracked up to be, that it doesn’t really bring all the fulfillment that you thought it would and you’re kind of sitting here thinking, “Wow. Is that all there is?”
This morning we come to this subject, particularly for us as Christians, that our identities can actually be stolen by success. As we discuss this subject I really want us to look at two things and my two teachings will focus on these two things. The first is the subject of the soul.
The Bible makes it very clear that our identity is rooted in the soul. Your identity. This is so important. Your identity is grounded in the soul and proceeds from your soul. Success cannot feed your soul and it may rob your soul. To understand what’s going on with success and your identity, we’ve got to look at the soul. The Greek word, the biblical word for soul is the word, “psyche.” This is the word from which we get the word “psychology.” It comes from this biblical word, this Greek word, “psyche.” Of course, psychologists seek to examine the inward person, the emotions, the will, the mind, the personality. Psychologists examine these things. In the Bible the word “psyche” is sometimes used in this inward sense. Sometimes the word psyche refers to the immaterial part of you. You are not just material. You are immaterial. You are physical but you are spiritual and sometimes this word psyche refers to that spiritual immaterial side of you which survives death.
There is this big debate these days about trichotomy/dichotomy. The trichotomous/dichotomous debate. You’re probably thinking, “What about the hippopotamus?” and that’s really not part of this. Trichotomous means three-part. The word dichotomous means two-part. What is the nature of man? Are we trichotomous or are we dichotomous? Are you, body, soul and spirit, “soma, psyche, pneuma,” or are you simply “body and soul?” Are you simply “body and spirit?”
It is true that sometimes in the Bible the word body and the word soul, the word “psyche” and the word “pneuma” are used interchangeably as though they refer to the same thing. Then other times the Bible seems to subtly distinguish between them, body and soul. Certainly all Bible scholars and theologians would agree with this, that the Bible portrays man as both physical and spiritual, that you do have this physical side of you that passes away at death, dust-to-dust, ashes-to-ashes but you’re more than that and the essence of you is in your soul and your soul survives death and your spirit survives death. Whether these two terms are synonymous or not, they survive death.
And so we come to passages in the Bible like Matthew, chapter 10 where Jesus said, “Do not fear those who can destroy the body.” I don’t know about you but personally I find that a hard teaching. It’s hard not to fear people who can destroy the body or things which can destroy the body but Jesus said, “Do not fear those who can destroy the body but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul. Fear Him who can send your soul to hell.” At this point Jesus is not talking about the devil. Jesus is talking about His Father. Jesus is talking about God Himself who has power over your body and soul and the authority to send your soul to hell. Fear God. Jesus is saying, “Fear God.” The audience that Jesus was speaking to clearly understood that Jesus understood the distinction between body and soul and that the body dies but the soul lives on.
You come to Revelation, chapter 20 and you read about the souls of the martyrs who had died during the Great Tribulation and had come to life. As you read about this in Revelation 20, you understand that there is this immaterial side of man that can transcend and survive death and it’s the soul. Again, the Bible in Revelation 20 clearly describes the souls that are in heaven.
Then you go to Mark’s Gospel, the 8th chapter, and you see Jesus saying, “What does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and forfeit his soul?” The Greek word is “psyche,” sometimes in some of your translations it’s rendered “life” because the word “psyche” could refer to the whole of the human life, physical and spiritual, but it always includes the spiritual. So, what does it profit a man if he has all the success in the world, if he gained the whole world, if he forfeits his soul. Jesus said, ”What can a person give in exchange for his soul? Then you come to 1 Peter, chapter 2 and you read how Jesus, for those of us who belong to Him, for those of us who are in Christ, we are told that Jesus is the Shepherd of our soul and He’s the guardian of our soul. The Greek word for shepherd is “poimen.” The Greek word for guardian is “episkopos.” In Homer’s Iliad this is the word to describe the guards of the castle. They are the episkopoi or the episkopos guards. Jesus is the one for us as Christians. He’s the one who guards our soul but you understand if you’re not a Christian, your soul has no shepherd. If you’re not a Christian, your soul has no shepherd and is wandering and lost. If you’re not a Christian, your soul has no guardian. Your soul is in danger. It has no guardian and so we have this clear teaching in the scripture that Jesus is the shepherd and guardian of the soul and He feeds the soul and is so disappointed after the feeding of the 5,000 because they only wanted physical bread and He’d come with spiritual bread. He wanted to feed the soul. Only Jesus can feed your soul. Success, no matter how much success you attain, it can never feed your soul and it may up robbing your soul because success can be dangerous.
In the course of my life I’ve had many people who have influenced me. Certainly my mom and my dad have influenced me and my brothers have influenced me. My wife Barb has greatly influenced me. My children have influenced me. Many friends through the years have influenced me but one person who has had a very unique influence upon my life is J. Edwin Orr. J. Edwin Orr was one of my professors in seminary. He was a missiologist and a theologian and one of my favorite people. He had many doctorates, all earned, and of course many honorary doctorates over and above that but I loved him not simply because of his knowledge but his heart. He was such a loving man.
I first met him not in seminary but when I was in high school and college because I would sometimes go to Forest Home Christian Conference Center in California in the San Bernardino Mountains. I would go there with my high school friends or my college friends to College Briefing and J. Edwin Orr was oftentimes one of those who spoke. At Forest Home Christian Conference Center, they had this wonderful assembly hall. It was called Hormel Hall. It’s still there today, Hormel Hall. Maybe somebody in the family made a great donation. I don’t know. I do know that in Hormel Hall oftentimes speakers would come and give fire and brimstone messages and so my friends and I sometimes called it Morehell Hall.
In any event, J. Edwin Orr spoke in there and somehow whether I was in high school or college I was always impacted. It was like when J. Edwin Orr spoke the Holy Spirit showed up. God showed up and I would get chills when he would speak. I would leave Hormel Hall, go out into the night and I’d want to be a better person and I would want to serve Jesus. I would want to serve Christ and His Kingdom. He lit a fire in me every time I heard him speak. He was that kind of a man.
Late in the 1950s, J. Edwin Orr went over to India amongst the Naga Tribes near Assam and there you heard a song. You can go to Nagaland today, to the region of Assam – my son Drew went with Jim Jackson, they went with Project C.U.R.E. to that part of the world. Many wonderful Christians are there today. When J. Edwin Orr went there that was true then. Some of the reasons there are so many Christians is because of missionaries like J. Edwin Orr. In any event, when J. Edwin Orr was there, he found this song that he just loved. He’d never heard it before and the truth is that the song had come from other parts of the world to the Naga Tribes but the song had never caught on anywhere else.
The chorus to the song had been written in 1885 by a man named Carl Bolberg. He wrote the chorus in 1885 and then in 1953 the stanzas or the verses of the song were written by a man named Heinz. Then the tune, the melody, came from Swedish folk songs so it was all combined in the hodgepodge deal. In the Christian world, nobody was singing this but amongst the Naga tribes, they kind of adopted it as their own and they loved this song. J. Edwin Orr fell in love with it, brought the song back to America and J. Edwin Orr showed the song to Billy Graham and to George Beverly Shea and then the song was popularized at Billy Graham Crusades. Many of you have probably guessed what that song is. The song is called “How Great Thou Art.” It’s hard to believe that that song was being sung by Naga Tribes people and rejected by the rest of the world, but J. Edwin Orr brought it back to us.
“Oh, Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior to God, to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art!
If you remember nothing else this morning, remember this. Your soul was never designed to sing “How Great I Am.” Remember that. Your soul was never designed to sing “How Great I am.” That’s the problem with success, isn’t it? That’s the danger of success, isn’t it? In any chosen field, regardless of your career choice, as you excel, as you exceed and as you accomplish, you might begin to sing in your soul, “How Great I Am” and you’ll lose, as a Christian, your identity and you’ll move toward spiritual death. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe a Christian can lose his or her salvation but I do believe this. I do believe that the soul that sings, “How Great I Am” is heading towards hell. That’s what hell is like, people who sing, “How Great I Am.” Heaven is people who sing, “How Great Thou Art.” If you want to worship yourself, God, the Bible tells us, will give you that eternal opportunity. God will give you that eternal opportunity but it’s vacuous. Worship of self is vacuous. It just leads to death in the soul. Success can be very, very dangerous. It’s all centered on the soul so we need to understand the soul and how God crafted it. God made us for Himself and God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit feeds the soul, feeds your soul and my soul. Don’t neglect the soul.
A second and final teaching this morning concerns the kingdom. We’ve looked briefly at the soul. I want us to look at the kingdom of God. You see your success does not necessarily serve His kingdom. Does that make sense? Your success does not necessarily serve His kingdom. As a Christian, success can cause you to lose your identity because your identity resides in the soul and is expressed through His kingdom. It’s expressed through the kingdom of Heaven and the work of the kingdom of Christ on earth. So your identity as a Christian resides in your soul and is expressed through the kingdom of God and success does not necessarily serve His kingdom. Your success, His kingdom. It might serve your kingdom. It might serve your kingdom but not His.
You have Matthew 6. You have the Sermon on the Mount. You have Jesus saying, “Don’t be anxious about anything in your life. Don’t be anxious about anything in terms of the scope of your needs. Do not be anxious, Jesus said. Just “seek first the kingdom of God.” Remember that passage? Just “seek first the kingdom of God.” This is so critical because when you get caught up in the world’s view of success, you oftentimes lose sight of the kingdom of God and you fail to seek first His kingdom. You lose your identity in Christ and you really lose your way in life.
I think what we do oftentimes is we kind of substitute things for the kingdom in our life. I mean the kingdom of Christ is the focus of our soul as God made us and so that heavenly kingdom is to be our focus but when we lose our way, we kind of substitute other things for the kingdom and so wealth might be something we substitute for the kingdom. Instead of seeking first the kingdom, we seek first wealth. We find our identity through our wealth. And through our material success, we find our identity. This is of course extremely dangerous.
I’m mindful of the Pearl of Asia. Some of you may have heard of the Pearl of Asia. The year was 1628 when a pearl diver discovered the Pearl of Asia in the Persian Gulf. When he found this thing, he had to have just been stunned. There had never been a pearl like this. It was shaped like a teardrop, a perfectly formed teardrop. The Pearl of Asia was 3 inches in length and 2 inches in width. Priceless. And so that was 1628. Nineteen years later, in 1647, the pearl was purchased by Shah Jahan, the Mongol Emperor, a man of great power and wealth. He purchased the Pearl of Asia and he purchased it for his wife. If you look at the life of Shah Jahan, you see that he did most things for his wife. He built the Taj Mahal, one of the greatest architectural structures in the world, beautifully designed. He built it for his wife. He built the Grand Palace for his wife, and he bought the Pearl of Asia for his wife but of course in the course of time, Shah Jahan died, his wife died, and the Pearl of Asia just disappeared. People didn’t know what happened to it.
In 1750, the Pearl of Asia reappeared at auction in Hong Kong. Then in subsequent years it was auctioned in Paris and then in subsequent years it was auctioned in Rome. It was always purchased by the most wealthy people in the world and oftentimes by royalty. In 1940 the Pearl of Asia disappeared yet again. Sixty-seven years ago it disappeared and it’s not been seen since. Today no one knows where it is. No one know where the Pearl of Asia is today but when you hear about it or you think about it, you can’t help but be reminded of the statement of Jesus in Matthew, chapter 13, verses 45 and 46. “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a merchant in search of fine pearls who, upon finding one pearl of great value, of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
What is the message of Christ for us? The message is “the kingdom of heaven is worth everything you have.” It’s like the one pearl of great value and it’s worth everything you have. Of course, His teaching there is similar to what he said in Matthew 13:44 about “the kingdom of heaven being like a treasure hidden in a field.” “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also,” Jesus said. Where is your heart? Is it given to wealth and the accumulation of wealth and material success. Is that your identity? Or are you looking at the real treasure? The real treasure is the kingdom of heaven. That’s the real treasure.
One of the things that I love about that passage in I Timothy that I shared with you today is at the very end of the passage. It says that when you live for Christ and you live for the kingdom instead of for money, you discover the life which is life indeed. You discover the life which is life indeed. In the Greek it’s “tes antis zoest” and it means, “the really life.” You discover the really life. If you want to discover the really life, you’ve got to find it in the kingdom of heaven. You won’t find the really life, “tes antis zoest,” you won’t find that in worldly wealth.
One of Barb’s and my favorite movies was “Pride and Prejudice,” partly because the book by Jane Austen was so great. She was a wonderful gal and the daughter of a minister. The movie of course talks about a guy named Darcy. So does the book talk about Darcy. Darcy is this incredibly wealthy guy who owns the estate called Pemberley. Darcy owns this lavish estate and he falls in love with Elizabeth who is one of five daughters in a middle class family and he proposes to her and she rejects him because of misunderstandings regarding his character.
Later she sees the estate at Pemberley and marvels. well, I think over the top wealth can produce jaw-dropping wonder. When you head home today, I’m sure you’re not heading home to a house like that or water features like that but remember you’re heading home to a pretty nice place compared to what most people have around the world.
Jane Austen, in all of her books and movies that have been made from her books, one of the messages is always that wealth does not satisfy. In this movie, Darcy is a miserably guy. His aunt who has another estate is a miserable lady. There’s no satisfaction or fulfillment in wealth by itself but the message in most of Jane Austen’s books is that fulfillment comes through love, particularly romantic love. That’s a message a lot of people have bought into. Her books are very popular and the movies are very popular and certainly romantic love is very important and a precious thing and yet romantic love really isn’t the source of fulfillment either. I mean just as you can’t find your identity in wealth, you really can’t find your identity in the person you love or the people you love on this earth. It’s just not good enough.
I can remember years ago I kind of entered in what I might call a “Barb quest.” I was actually in a quest for my wife but I really was in a quest for Barb. I wanted a wife just like I’m blessed now to have. I wanted a wife like Barb.
I was in my junior year of college and there were eight of us who were close friends and we all competed in sports together and stuff. By the end of my junior year, the other seven were all married. It would be very uncommon today but more common then. I was the only guy who was not married and I kind of began to panic. I was like I’ve got to go on this wife quest. I’ve got to find a wife and I went into a dating frenzy my senior year. I went out every Friday night, every Saturday night. I didn’t really have the money but I was in a panic. Then I went a fifth year to get my teaching credential and did some graduate class work in psychology. All of my dating kind of felt like failure. It seemed like when I kind of liked someone, they didn’t really like me and it didn’t seem to work out very well.
One day when I was in grad school, I was walking on the beach in Santa Barbara. It was a cold winter day and it was rainy. Nobody else was there. I was all by myself and I had this spiritual epiphany, this moment of deep awareness of God. It was a moment of relinquishment. I accepted Christ when I was five years old but I had pretty much lived for myself. So here I was walking on the beach with tears in my eyes and I gave myself completely to God, gave myself completely to Christ. All that I was aware of, I relinquished to Him. I said to Him, “Lord, I can live without a girl but I can’t live without You. Lord Jesus, I’m willing to be single the rest of my life but I’ve got to have You.” And so I made this commitment on the beach that day that I would go where He wanted me to go and I would do what He wanted me to do no matter what. It changed my life. Instead of being on a “Barb quest,” instead of being on a “wife quest,” I was on a “Christ quest.”
In the years that followed I wound up going to theology school and seminary and then God called me into the service of His Church and Christ called me there and so “the Christ quest.” Just trying to know Christ more and love Him more and serve Him more. The weird thing is that as I entered into this “Christ quest,” Christ began to give me the things He knew I needed and even some of the longings and desires of my heart. God gave me Barb. When I met Barb it wasn’t in a dating frenzy. I was just at a gathering of friends and there she was. Somehow I knew in my soul that God had given us to each other. It was this gift from God. In Matthew 6 it says, “Seek first My kingdom. I will give you everything you need.”
I hope you understand. Even love on the human level, on the romantic level, is not sufficient to warrant your highest attention. It’s not worthy of your identity and it’s not where you can find your success. Some people find success in wealth. Some people find success in love. Some people find their identity there but it’s got to be the kingdom of heaven. That’s what your soul longs for. It’s got to be the kingdom of heaven.
I know this is Memorial Day Weekend. I just want to say something about our allegiance to country. I think there are some people who find their identity in their country. Certainly I’m proud to be an American. I’m sure many Italians are proud to be Italians and many of the French are proud to be French. I’m proud to be an American. I think there are some people who long for the success of their country and tie a lot of their identity to that, right? I understand that, longing for the success of your country. On this Memorial Day Weekend, I think we all thank God for those who have laid down their lives for our Democratic ideals and freedoms and for this country. We all know we’re privileged and blessed to live here.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States.” I hope you also understand that we as Christians have a higher allegiance. I hope you know and believe that. As Christians, we have a higher allegiance because we are citizens of a higher country. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, bound for heaven, and we are children of God and members of the Royal Family. The Bible says, “This world is not our home. We’re aliens and exiles on the earth.” Even as Americans, we are aliens and exiles on the earth and strangers and sojourners on the earth and citizens of the heavenly kingdom. Even country, wonderful as this country is, is not worthy of your highest allegiance and your ultimate identity.
On March 6, 1836, 186 men died at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, Davy Crockett died. Jim Bowie died. Colonel William Travis died, and they died facing the armies of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna with his 5,000 soldiers and his arsenal of military weapons. One hundred and eighty-six died that day. I think the person most amazing amongst the 186 who died was James Bonham because James Bonham was sent from the Alamo by Colonel William Travis to get help. He went 90 miles away to a Fort and asked for help. They refused him. He knew that back at the Alamo, 185 men were facing 5,000 and the situation was hopeless and he could have just gone on with his life but no. James Bonham went back to the Alamo and died there, making it 186, because for him Texas was a treasure. For him, Texas and the independence of Texas was a treasure.
I think we can understand that. It’s good to remember that in 1776, 56 men in July of 1776, signed the Declaration of Independence—56 men. They pledged their lives their fortunes and their sacred honor. Many of them died and many of them became bankrupt financially but for them this country was a treasure – the United States of America, a treasure. I think we all understand. There’s a greater treasure. It’s called the kingdom of God. It’s called the kingdom of heaven and that’s where you’ve got to find your identity and you’ve got to understand the purpose and the nature of the work of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God has invaded this world. One day it will come in fullness but we who belong to Christ and who are members of His Royal Family are now called to serve its purposes on earth. That’s why we draw breath. That’s how our heart beats.
We serve the cause of the kingdom of heaven on earth. So we view the kingdom of heaven soteriologically from the Greek “soterias,” which means, “salvation.” We know that salvation comes through the kingdom of Christ and so we take that kingdom to the nations and to our neighborhoods and to the places where we work.
This past week Barb and I were at the Colorado Prayer Luncheon at the Denver Convention Center. Ambassador Tony Hall spoke. I had met him years ago in Washington, D.C. at the National Prayer Breakfast. He’s a Democrat, a man who has fallen in love with Jesus. He’s involved in humanitarian causes all over the world but he shared his testimony and how he came to Jesus and how he went to hear Chuck Colson. He didn’t want to go because he didn’t like Chuck Colson because of his association with Nixon but also because Colson was a Republican and he was very suspicious of Colson. He knew something had happened in Colson’s life so Tony Hall went to hear Chuck Colson and the Spirit of God just grabbed Tony Hall. He was a Congressman and a member of the Senate but his life would never be the same. He left and days after, he gave his heart to Jesus. He came to Jesus. He found Jesus.
In the aftermath of that, God sent him another Senator, another Congressman, Bill Armstrong from our own church family who is now the President of Colorado Christian University. Bill of course served in the U.S. Senate and Bill went to Tony Hall. They held hands, a Republican and a Democrat. They held hands that they might begin to grow together in Christ. Isn’t that cool?
You don’t find your identity in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or even in America. You find it in Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven. It was a wonderful testimony from an Ambassador Tony Hall.
The Kingdom of Christ functions soteriologically and offers salvation. It also functions ecclesiastically. The word “ecclesia” means, “church” and the Gospel of the Kingdom calls people all over the world into the church and to community. We find our identity in Christ and in His people. I have brothers and sisters all over the world in every nation. You have brothers and sisters all over the world in every nation. We’re all bound for heaven. We all have the same purpose. Sometimes we view the Kingdom of Heaven eschatologically from “eschatos” which means, “last things” or “eschaton,” “last things.” Of course, the kingdom will come in power. It’s already invaded the world as I’ve said but it one day will come in power. Jesus Christ will come in power and great glory and every knee will bow to him and the kingdoms of the world will become his. We view the kingdom eschatologically. It gives us hope as we live out our days. It’s all about the kingdom of heaven. You get up in the morning, you get ready, maybe you read the paper, eat a little breakfast, talk to your family, give some hugs, head out to work. You do your best. There are important things you do at work. I know that. You come home and I don’t know what your evenings are like but I know that at some point in the day you’ve got to ask, “What about the Kingdom? What about the Kingdom of Christ? What am I doing with my time, my talent, my treasure and how am I pouring it out for what I seek first and foremost which is the Kingdom of God. Your soul longs for that and that’s how we’re called to live. Otherwise we lose our identity. That’s why seeking worldly success can be so dangerous.
As we close, there’s a little story I kind of like, a humorous little story about a guy that got on a plane. He sat down in his seat and he was seated right next to an elderly woman. As the plane takes off and he’s talking with her, he notices that she has this beautiful diamond pendant on a necklace and it’s just so beautiful. It’s the largest diamond this man had ever seen. He said, “Wow! You’ve got a beautiful diamond there.” She said, “Well, it’s the Klotman Diamond, you know.” He said, “I’m sorry but I’ve never heard of the Klotman Diamond.” She said, “Well, it’s very much like the Hope Diamond. It has a blue tinge just like the Hope Diamond, which you can find in the Smithsonian Institute. It has all the beauty and the clarity, if not the size, of the Hope Diamond. Just like the Hope Diamond, the Klotman Diamond comes with a curse.” He said, “Really? What’s the curse?” She said, “Mr. Klotman’s curse.”
Is it not true that many of the treasures we pursue seem kind of cursed in the final analysis. Doesn’t it feel like many of the earthly treasures we pursue in the final analysis seem kind of cursed, seem to come with a curse. Some of those things we thought so important and some of the successes we so strived for seem vacuous when we arrive at the top or when they reach fruition. It just doesn’t fulfill but, you see, there’s one treasure that always comes with a blessing and that is the Kingdom of Heaven. It always comes with a blessing. The blessing is Jesus. Your soul longs for Him and longs for His Kingdom and your identity needs to be found there. When you make it number one, good things begin to happen as He begins to respond to what He knows your true needs. Don’t let your identity be stolen by success. Let’s close with a word of prayer.