Who is a successful person? What would you want to see in a
person in order to call them prosperous? From the world’s point of view success
is about possessions. The more material possessions you acquire the more
successful you become. You would need to have five or more cars in your yard
and they would all have to be the “hottest” kind. You would need the Range
rover, Mercedes, Navarra, Hummer, BMW, Limousine and whatever else you can add
to the list. You must be one who has a jaw dropping mansion with no less than
five bedrooms. When someone walks into your premises they should be able to
say, “Wow, this is amazing. It’s just gorgeous!!” Apart from possessions, for those who have
children, the children should go to the most expensive schools in the
country and the most costly colleges or universities. You must also appear
often in magazines and in news papers. You must be seen often
on TV and heard frequent on Radio. Of course at the center of all this must be a well
paying job. When the world sees this, it will say, “There is a
successful woman or there is a prosperous man.” But how does God look at
success? Has he said the more possessions we have the more successful we will
be? Do we have to become popular in order to be called prosperous? In as much as God may bless us with material
possessions and other belongings, we should not use them as a measuring rod for
success.
When you look at Scripture and see the people who were called
successful, you will notice something similar about all of them. They were
people who had a grasp at something very significant. They kept this principle
at heart. They made this principle personal. What essential principle did they
keep? They were men and woman who were faithful to the task that God had
given them. They were faithful to their calling. They were faithful soldiers,
they were faithful parents, they were faithful teachers, they were faithful
Kings, they were faithful priests, they were faithful prophets, they were
faithful judges and they were faithful messengers. What do I mean when I say faithful? It is
that these men and woman took God’s word and applied it to the
task which was before them in a manner which pleased God. Take a look at King
David. If you read through the books of first and second Samuel you will notice
that David inquired from the LORD before taking action on a particular item. He
understood that as King he must represent God in his ruling. This, then, would
require knowing what God wants. And when God gave the order, David did exactly
what God said. Taking the gospel to the
gentiles was the task that was given to the apostle Paul. He was faithful to it
up to the very end. God chose Joshua to lead the Israelites to the Promised
Land and he was faithful to the task. In fact God says to Joshua that, “This Book of the Law shall not
depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you
may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will
make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” Joshua 1:8. The way for
prosperity for Joshua was to do according to all that is written in God’s
Word (Be careful to do all that
is written in it).
Another thing that is vital about
success in God’s view is appreciating your place or position of service. You
don’t have to be in America and begin to rise in rank for you to be successful.
You can be in the deep jungles of the Equatorial forests serving for the rest
of your life and still be successful. You can be someone’s maid for all of your
life and still be prosperous in God’s sight. I am not saying that we should
refuse promotions but that we should not measure success that way. You can be
CEO of a huge company and still be unfaithful to God in the very position.
Think of Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s husband, the one David killed. That was
a successful man whom many people don’t recognize. Why do I say so? He was
faithful to the task that was before him. He was Loyal to His King as a Subject
and to God who fought Israel’s battles. He comes home and David tells him to go
home and relax. He responds saying, “The
ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of
my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and
to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will
not do this thing” 2 Sam 11:11. How
many would have responded this way after coming from a heated battle? Uriah knew what it meant to be a
soldier in the Army of the Living God and not even David could persuade him
otherwise. In fact, during this period Uriah acted more faithful and righteous
than David. When you look at men like Uriah very few if possible no one will
say, “he was successful.” However, in God’s sight, Uriah was a great man
because he was true to his task. The Hittite is actually mentioned as one of
the mighty men of David in 2 Samuel 23:39.
I must mention also that those who
were true to their duties given where in
many instances exalted to a place and position of recognition. David
Livingstone was on a mission to take the gospel to the dark continent of
Africa. When planning to go to Africa, he didn’t say, “I want to take the
gospel to Africa so that I can be recognized.” He knew the good news to Africa was
his God given task after spending much time in prayer. However, God has given
him recognition. We have towns, roads and cities which are named after him. Our
Lord and Savior, God the Son, took up the task of coming to die for our sins.
He didn’t say I want to go die for them so that I can be acknowledged. There
was no need for that. After all he is God. But we are told in Scripture that “Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
(Phil 2:9-11).
Are you pushing for success? Are you being
faithful to what you have been called? Are you being faithful as a teacher? Are
you being faithful as a preacher? Are you being faithful as a doctor, as a
nurse or as an accountant? Remember, its faithfulness
to the task that before you. May the
grace of God be with you.
