A well-known farmer, who had held the record as a raiser of prize flocks of lambs and sheep for half a century, was visited one day by a deputation of farmers to discover, if possible, the secret of his success in gaining so many honors and prizes at the local fairs, for his much-admired flocks and herds.
The farmer, who was naturally proud of his reputation, and the coveted honors awarded him for his fine flocks of sheep and lambs browsing on the fields by the riverside, took his visitors round to view them, one of the company remarking that he “surely ought to be a happy and a satisfied man, having met with such a measure of success as he had enjoyed for almost fifty years, as a farmer and a flock-raiser in that romantic place.”
To these remarks the farmer made the following answer, which greatly astonished his visitors, who had formed the opinion that wealth and popularity are the chief causes of giving happiness and satisfaction to those who obtain them,
“My friends,” said the farmer, as he looked on his fine flock, grazing by the river side, “you are mistaken, if you reckon that success as most people count it, brings true happiness and contentment with it. I can assure you that I have known neither the one nor the other throughout my long life as a successful farmer here. I have had more anxiety and care in my life, for the past thirty years of it, than I had when I was a poor man on a small farm, working hard and living frugally, with a wife and a large family to provide for and bring up, but with a soul at peace with God, and a life lived in the daily enjoyment of His ‘great salvation’ (Heb. 2:3), which, as a young man I came to know under the gospel preaching of an evangelist. I knew real happiness then, and amid my hardworking years, I had the conscious presence of God with me, and His service was my joy by day; and His perfect peace’ (Isa. 26:3) the solace and enjoyment of my nights throughout the twelve years in which I possessed them in my soul. But when ‘success’ flowed in upon me, and I became engrossed in the things of the world, I gradually forgot God, and my mind became occupied with the things of this present world. My life became absorbed in my flocks, and the reputation I was making for myself as a successful farmer, and, as my heart became more occupied with my farm, I became less careful to please God and to live as a Christian should. By and by I lost assurance of my personal salvation, and this was the greatest of all losses to me. I would give all I now possess, to have ‘the joy of God’s salvation’ (Psa. 51:12) restored to my soul, as I knew it when a young man. But I have allowed the world and its wealth and successes to come in and rob me of my best treasure which money cannot buy, and I know that I must leave all that I have lived for throughout my life, of what men of the world call my successful years, but which I have now come to reckon to have been my years of deepest loss, which have lost to me the peace of God in my soul, and the loss of the ‘sunshine of His face on my path.’”
The aged farmer heaved a deep sigh, as he ended his story, and wiping the tear from his cheek, said slowly and sadly,
“You younger men, who have your lives yet to live, take warning from me, and do not allow the love of this world to rob you of the peace of God in your lives, or the quest for this world’s wealth or its honors, to shut out God and eternity from your view, as I have done. I can never get back the years I spent away from God, and in the darkness of departure from Him and His Word. I am leaving all I have gained, to those who lured me on in the world’s way. I see too late my folly, but spend my last strength to warn others who may yet escape the path I long have chosen, which I now see to have been all wrong, alike for time and eternity.”
He died, leaving a large fortune, with the reputation of being a successful farmer, but passed into the world beyond, saying he had lost “the one thing worth living for – Christ, and the joy of God’s salvation in his soul.”
Let the reader beware lest the love of the world and its reputation, cheat him in the same way. There are numberless such cases, even among those who, at one time, bade fair to become followers of Christ, but were “overcome” by the love of this world and its successes, which lured them on by its smile, to their undoing and loss.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:15, 16, 17.
“Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3:8.