HAVE YOU CAUGHT WHAT YOU'VE BEEN CHASING?

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Almost 80 years ago, nine famous men, whose vanity was as great as their success, met at the Chicago Edgewater Beach Hotel. They were:
the president of the largest steel company,
the president of the largest utility company,
the president of the largest gas company,
the president of the N. Y. Stock Exchange,
the president of the Bank of Int’l Settlements,
the greatest wheat speculator,
the greatest bear on Wall Street,
the head of the world’s greatest monopoly, and a member of President Harding’s cabinet.

If there is a good reason to be vain they
had good reasons enough, but 25 years later what had happened to each of these men?

The president of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, had died in bankruptcy.

The president of the largest utility company, Samuel Insull, had died penniless.

The president of the largest gas company Howard Hobson, had gone insane.

The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was just
released from prison.

The bank prsident, Leon Fisher, died a suicide victim.

The wheat speculator, Arthur Cutton, had died with not a dime left to his name.

The Wall Street bear, Jesse Livermore, also took his own life.


The head of the world’s great monopoly, Ivan Kruegar, had given up on life and died by his own hand.

The member of President Harding’s cabinet, Albert Fall, had just been given a pardon from prison so that he could die at home.

It wasn’t the wealth or the power that caused these men such shame and pain. It was what they had done it all for - Vanity. Wealth, power, fame fed their conceit. It was all they had lived for and it was not enough.

And do not confuse vanity with confidence. What is the difference? All the difference in the world. For confidence says, “I am God’s child, warts and all.”

Confidence doesn’t need a mirror. It doesn’t need a steady stream of compliments to happily survive. Confidence endures quite easily even when being disagreed with.

If you wear a crown of confidence rather than a tiara of vanity you can still feel secure in second place, third place or even last place. When you are confident you just want to be your best and that’s quite enough to keep you busy without letting foolish vanity get in the way.

When Jesus came to earth, His vanity did not dictate that He be born in a mansion.
When He became an adult and began preaching and teaching, His vanity did not demand large audiences.
When He spoke to individuals, He did not first find out if they were important enough for Him to bother with and if they were acceptable to others. Along with everything else He taught us was humility, and because He taught it, we, with confidence, should seek to practice it.
What have you lost yourself in? And for what reason? It is so easy to get lost in things that feed vanity and thereby let such things give us a free and easy trip to hell.

“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.” (Psalms 119:37)

The Following was posted Sunday November 8th on the “WYRICK’S WRITINGS SITE”… A LEFT OVER GOD

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