The Bigger Picture

A lot of us want temporary happiness or instant success. We want to win the lottery, live off that income, and never have to work another day in our lives. More so, some of us believe that if we have more, we will be better off. This article will express and interpret why working hard when we have little, will give us a lot.

I think of temporary happiness as things that give us selfish gratifications. When people smoke, they do not care for the people, they do not care if they get sick from second hand smoking. Nonetheless, they do not care about harming themselves, they just want that temporary good feeling. When people drink to get drunk, they do not realize that other people have to help them. They have to make sure they do not do anything they will regret (fighting, sex, driving home, etc.). Getting drunk is something that people want to do for themselves, and the reasons can be celebrating or trying to avoid their problems. When people argue or fight, they want to win the argument or fight, not necessarily to make the other person feel good. Sometimes people argue and fight with people to attempt to show that they have authority over you. People may even want to hurt you to make themselves feel good. There are other examples of being selfish, and I believe being selfishness hurts you as well as it hurts others. We have to see the bigger picture, we cannot be so narrow minded in selfishness, that we forget to see how our decisions are effecting other people around us.

Instant success is something I am guilty of thinking of, I think about having millions of dollars and thinking of the ideas I would do with my money. So I think that if I could somehow get a lot of money now, I would know what to do with it. In reality, people are becoming broke after winning the lottery and athletes are declaring bankruptcy after making millions. Why? Because when we have little, we realize that we do not need as much and are happy with what we have. When we have a lot, all of a sudden we are under the impression that we need more because we have more. You must work hard for your success because once you become successful, you will realize that you do not need as much and can give to others

You will see other people struggling and you will use your money to help others. That is how the circle of life should work. Whether you have grown up in a poor family or a rich family, you should not feel bitter or feel bad towards other people. If you grew up with a little and you are able to gain a lot, do not be selfish and tell yourself that since you worked hard for every penny, that it is all yours. Instead realize what struggles and mistakes you made, and share that with others. Give people that were once in your position, the chance to pursue greatness.

God gives us a testimony to share, and He enriches us so we can help those in need. (You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:11). God gives us EVERYTHING, whether you start with a little or a lot. If you start with a lot, wear your blessings well. People may think you have it easier then those who are poor, but in reality you miss out on some struggles that poor people go through. Struggling makes you stronger, both sides of the coin have to overcome their situations. I have heard stories from poor people that did not have a lot and those stories humble me and I gain more appreciation for my life. I have heard stories from rich people and I have seen what they do. There are people that use their money for the better of others and not necessarily for themselves, because they want to see joy in other people's faces, and there is no dollar sign on that, it is priceless...I have seen poor people give up and say this life is too hard...I have seen rich people use their money for selfish reasons...We are all given a situation, it is your decision in whether you want to use it for the glory of God or for the glory of yourself.

Do not believe that if you have more, you will be better off. The reason why you do not get a promotion, is because you are not giving your best effort in the position you are in. You may think, "But if I get a promotion I will give better effort." Me for example, I do not necessarily want to be an assistant coach. I want to be a head coach at the highest level. And I believe I can be a good head coach right now. But I have to be the best assistant coach I can possibly be. I cannot pout as an assistant and think that will get me promoted to a head coach. When I am ready, I will move up the ladder. The keys to moving up the ladder is to have faith in the little things and taking your job seriously. You may make fun of someone for taking their job seriously, but the ones that do take it seriously, will get paid more and move up the success ladder quicker than you. When you paint the bigger picture, you have to make sure every little detail is in place. The little things you paint, create the big picture. You could have an ugly past, but once you learn from the mistakes you have made, your future will look good.

I want to leave you with a rhetorical question that I want you to ask yourselves...What gives me the right to be selfish?

God gave all of us life, we should not glorify ourselves. Jesus SAVED all of our lives, we should live for Him. We all are grateful to our mothers for giving birth to us and we all are grateful to people that save our lives. So we need to see the bigger picture and realize that God gave us this life and Jesus saved us. He continues to save us and protect us, and I realize that now that I am saved, He has been saving me even when I did not have a relationship with Him...We all want to inherit the kingdom of God and spend eternity in Heaven, we can only do that if we have a relationship with Christ. Jesus has saved us, but it is our calling to live for Him.

We have to be obedient to Him, if we SAY we believe in Christ but do not follow His ways, that does not mean we have a relationship with Him. If I am a coach, and I tell my team to run a play, and they don't, that means my team does not believe in me. If someone asks my players, "Who is your coach?" They will say it is me, but that still does not mean they believe in me. If you do not do what Jesus asks you to do, then you do not believe in Him, you are just using Him. You are just declaring that He saved your life and you do not owe Him anything. The mindset of, "Thank you Jesus for saving my life, but I am going to do my own thing now, see you in Heaven." does not work. Jesus did not save your life so you can turn away from Him, He said that whoever believes in Him, will never die. (...everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him. John 3:15). Saying you believe is not enough, being obedient is believing in Jesus. Anyone can raise their hand and declare Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but it is what you do after that, and after declaring He is Lord, you must develop a relationship with Him that will set you free and break you away from the bondage and uncertainty of sin.

Thank you for reading! Feedback and personal stories are encouraged! Please share with anyone you believe needs to read this!

Sincerely,
Christopher Edward Perez

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Ability vs. Willing

According to Webster's Dictionary definitions, ability means to have the physical, mental, or legal power to perform. Willing is defined as, prompt to act or respond; done borne, or accepted by choice or without reluctance; the power of choosing.

In order to do something and to be successful, you must be able to have both of these concepts. I could be willing to build a house, but I am not able to do that since I do not know how to, I would have to learn how to build a house in order to be able to do it. I could have the ability to learn something new, but if I am not willing to learn, then I would not be able to get smarter.

As human beings, we are all given abilities, but we are given the choice of having the willingness to use those abilities for the good of ourselves and others. Here are some examples of abilities we all have.

The ability to be strong and getting stronger. A lot of us deal with pain, in fact all of us do, physically and mentally. I have said myself that I do not get hurt, and I realize that I was lying to myself. What I was really saying is that I am not going to let any pain or hurt ruin my life. I am not going to let things that happened to me in past, get in the way of my present and future. I will learn from pain, but I will never let it consume me. I know pain will come again in my life. A few weeks ago I hurt my ankle, last year I lost a childhood friend my age to a car accident...the physical and mental pain will come, but it can not stay with you. It takes a person about 24 hours to grieve when they lose a loved one, after that it is pain they are holding on to. Senior Pastor Steve Smothermon, Sr. from Legacy Church said this last night during the sermon, "If it is so painful, then why do you carry it with you?" We have the ability to let go. This comes from the ability to get stronger. My attitude is to have a willingness to be strong because I know I have the ability to be strong and it will make me more successful and inspiring.

The ability to be thankful. There are people that really make an effort to think on the bright side, and the best way to do that is to be grateful and thankful. Even saying the statement, "I have nothing to be thankful for." You can be thankful that you have the ability to talk, the ability to think that thought, and the ability to be standing there alive. There is always a bright side and positive perspective. God tells us over and over again to be thankful. If you pray to God without being thankful, then He will not respond to your prayers because you did not do what He asks of us, to simply give thanks to Him and to others. I believe that having the ability to be thankful but not willing to give thanks, is being grateful. There are things I am grateful for, but being grateful is telling yourself that you appreciate what you have. Being thankful is reaching out to someone and telling them that you appreciate what they do for you. We all have grateful thoughts, but we must be willing to speak our gratefulness into thankfulness if we want the true and greater blessings from God.

The ability to be happy. Last night I had dinner with some friends from church, and within flow of the conversations, we talked about special needs people. We mentioned that they are so happy, and I brought up the time when I volunteered at the Special Olympics in my home city of Corona, CA. By far it has been my favorite event to volunteer at, mainly because of the positive energy and happiness from the participants. Then I thought to myself, why do people that have disabilities, are more happy than the people without disabilities? Some people may never reach a level of higher learning because of a disability. Some people may not be able to perform physically at a high level because of a disability. But when you use your ability to smile, you give yourself power, no matter what your advantages or disadvantages are. Be happy, not because you can, but because it will bring you joy and to others. No matter what you are going through, being happy is what we are called to be so we can help make others feel better. I know we have pain that makes it hard to be happy. God wants you to still be happy and thankful for something(s) that He has given you. When you do that, then God will heal your pain. If you really think about it God tells you to be happy, thankful, and strong through difficult times; so you can forget about the pain and bring joy to others. Seeing someone else happy helps your pain. Being thankful helps your pain. Being strong DESTROYS pain! Focus on those three concepts during painful times,  because that is your best medicine.

The ability to love others. Love cannot be measured, we have a limitless amount of love in our hearts. There are 7 billion people in the world and you have the ability to love all of them. And God gave us the fundamentals of human abilities in Corinthians 13:13 - "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." Our best ability is to love but a lot of us have a lot of hate towards others, or we do not like certain people, and we get in arguments that have no substance other than hate. There are people in your life that you are not going to get along with. I know people that have a hard time getting along with me but it is not out of hate, it is because we all have unique lifestyles and different goals that we aspire towards. Especially the born again saved Christians, when we are saved, most of us forget about love. Because when we start getting right with God, we start seeing all the evil and wrongdoing around us more clearly. So we then get angry at them or tell them off, with no love whatsoever. For the people that are right with God, remember there was a time when you were not right with God. And for me personally, it was not like I did not believe in God, I just did not know how to serve Him and be obedient. So I did not have the ability to serve Him, but I did have the desire to serve Him and the ability to learn. So friends invited me to church, I read The Bible, I became associated with a church that has taught me the right way to serve Him and continues to teach me. Why did God give me this desire and ability to seek Him? Because He LOVES me, and He loves EVERYONE in this world, even if they deny Him. He loves all people so much, that He sent His only begotten Son to suffer dying on the cross to pay the price of our sins. Jesus Christ died for us, out of love, and He put that love in our hearts so everyone can have a relationship with God. But we cannot lead people to Christ if we do not humble ourselves and put our egos aside. People that do wrong need to get right with God through love. Are you willing to not have anger, jealousy, or hate towards people? Have love, it is the best thing you can do!

We also have the ability and willingness to do bad things and wrong others. However there is a price YOU have to pay if you choose to do the wrong things, and that price is eternal life in hell. By living righteously and choosing to do the right things, well that price has already been paid in full by Jesus dying on the cross for ALL of us! When you accept Jesus as your Lord, when you live in obedience, and you endure to the end, you will have eternal life in Heaven! (Matthew 24;13 - "But the one who endures to the end will be saved.") And there is no in between. You may say you believe in God, but if you do not follow His ways then that means your actions do not show you believe in Him. Saying you believe in Him means nothing if you do not show Him that you believe in Him. So if do some good things, or only do some of what He asks, you do not go to Heaven, you do not go to a lower level of Heaven. It is either Heaven or hell. Psalms 39:5 - "You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure." This psalm of David, he is saying that this life on earth is short compared to our eternal life. A handbreadth is basically the palm of your hand. It is a symbolism as how long your life is here on earth. So ask yourself, is this temporary life, that is very short in comparison to my eternal life, worth living wrong? Do I want to spend FOREVER in hell or FOREVER in Heaven? Some may even think that since doing wrong fells so good to them, they do not mind going to hell...It is not worth it, be willing to live a righteous life and you will experience the greatest thing you can ever have, which is eternal life in Heaven. Do wrong, and you will experience the greatest punishment and torment in hell forever. Who are you willing to serve? Satan, of lies and no promises other than an eternal life in hell? Or Jesus, who died for you and promised eternal life in Heaven? Your choice!

Thank you for reading! I hope this inspires you to live righteously and I encourage you to share this reading, because you never know who it can help!

God Bless!

Christopher Edward Perez
Twitter: @C_P_2
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email: cperez0116@yahoo.com