Before we start looking at the two great choices between “The Success In Life Series” and the “Starting Your Day With Jesus” series, let’s examine why we would want to get involved with these books in the first place. One of the main issues in life is that there doesn’t seem to be a life-manual. We come into this life and have humans, who aren’t having all that much success in life themselves, trying to teach us. Most of us know the Bible has the answers to life. But, by the time we get it mastered, we have already messed up a lot of our lives.

The world teaches us all about life and how to succeed at it. Everywhere we go we are told to have self-confidence, self-esteem, and to believe in ourselves. We are told that we can be anything we want to be; all we have to do is believe that all things are possible. We see all kinds of people using these teachings and getting money, possessions, popularity, positions, power, pleasure, prestige, and accomplishments. We look at them and assume they have found happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, peace, and life success; but, have they?

We see some very “successful” people commit suicide, get hooked on drugs, get sent to prison, have multiple divorces, have children who don’t love or respect them, spend a lot of time in court being accused of all kinds of wrong and bad things, and have spent most if not all their time with their career rather than with the important people in their life.

There is a BIG difference between the principles that Jesus teaches and what the classes, magazines, television programs, internet, and the books we read that the world teach us. When we read or listen to Jesus’ teachings and compare them with popular beliefs, it seems easy to use the world system and difficult to follow Jesus’ teachings. But, Jesus told us that if we love Him, we will do what He said. This can create some real struggles in our heart.

A lot of the struggles Christians have with Jesus’ teachings is caused by a major misunderstanding of what Jesus is asking us to do. Another problem Christians face is only knowing what the world teaches about how to run a marriage, family, business, career, friendship, or our life in general. The Scriptures in these books help us see how easy it is to apply Jesus’ teachings to our everyday life. AND, they show us why those things we were taught in the world are extremely wrong, bad, and hurtful to us and those around us.