Successful Wherever You Go

                                                    

A group of soldiers visited a certain town to raise funds. They came to a splendid mansion and the owner, an old man, took them round to see his riches. He pointed to a little town, "that is mine; it is called by my name. This grand hall I have built is called by my name; there is my insignia on it”. He showed them his fertile fruitful farms. He took them into his house, showed them his costly golden utensils and jewels. “And yet I was once a poor boy. I have made it all myself" he said.

After taking them round, one soldier looked at him and asked "Well, you've shown us all your earthly riches, now tell us what have you got up there?” "Up where?" said the old man. "Up in heaven" replied the soldier. "Well, I'm afraid I haven't got much up there." the man said sadly. "Ah," said the soldier, “but you will die someday and leave this world; what will you take with you of all these things?

You will die a beggar, for all these riches count as nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven. You have spent all your years amassing wealth that you would soon leave and you failed to send some to the place where you will spend eternity”. The poor old man burst into tears. He had nothing in heaven and it was too late. In four months' time he was dead (DL Moody).

Psalm 1:3 tells us that a man who delights in the law of the Lord will prosper in whatever he does. Joshua was assured that if he consistently studied and lived out God’s word; he would be prosperous and successful wherever he went (Joshua 1:7-8). Throughout Judah Hezekiah did what was right before his God. In everything that he undertook he sought his God and so he prospered (2 Chron. 31:20-21).

People have defined prosperity as abundance. God promises that a godly life will be followed by prosperity. The fulfillment of this does not always seem real; sight often sees the very opposite of what that promise foretells. And yet God is not a man that he should lie or change his mind; he fulfills every promise that he has made (Num. 23:19). So what exactly does he have in mind when he promises success and prosperity to the godly?

The world measures prosperity in terms of wealth, power, fame, skills, health status and length of life. So, if a person is greatly gifted or has a career that makes a lot of money or a position that gives him fame, power and earthly legacies, people generally would identify him as successful. If he lives a long healthy life he is regarded as a blessed man. Those who lack such things are generally regarded to as failures in life.

If any person can do anything the world defines as “successful,” it is only because God has given him that ability. The Bible declares that everything, every ability and every position is God’s gift. John the Baptist summarizes it this way “A man can receive only what is given them from Heaven” (John 3:27). Therefore, when God promises prosperity he is well able to give the godly what the world defines it to be.

God gives a man riches, wealth, possessions and honor and the power to enjoy them (Ec 6:2). God gave King Solomon these things (1 Kings 10:14-29, Ec. 2). Walking on the roof of his palace one day, Nebuchadnezzar said to himself “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power, for the glory of my majesty?”  Immediately the kingdom and his sanity were taken away from him. When he acknowledged the power of God, they were restored (Dan 4: 28-37).

A long and healthy life is a blessing from God. He told the Israelites “if you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, The Lord will keep you free from every disease” (Deut 7:12-15). The word of God is life and health to the whole body (Prov. 3:7-8, 4:20-22,). Fearing the Lord and keeping all his commandments prolongs life (Deut 6:1-2, 1 Kings 3:14-15).

God gives wisdom and fame to whomever he chooses. In 1 Kings 4: 29-34 we are told that God gave Solomon wisdom as measureless as the sand on the seashore. His fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and a thousand and five songs.  He spoke about plant life, animals and birds, reptiles and fish. People came from all nations to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.

Successful Christian ministry is enabled by God; every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17). There are varieties of gifts, services and activities but God empowers them all in everyone. The Holy Spirit apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Cor. 12:4-11). When making the tabernacle God filled the workers with wisdom, knowledge, all kinds of skills to make artistic designs and to engage in all kinds of crafts. They made it and all its furnishings just the way he had commanded (Exod. 31:1-11).

Solomon was given wealth, wisdom, power and fame by God. King Solomon with his unlimited resources and unparalleled wisdom applied his mind to study and to explore what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. He undertook great projects, he denied himself nothing his eyes desired and refused his heart no pleasure (Ecc.2:3).

He discovered that without God no one can eat and find enjoyment. He also found out that to the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness. But, to the sinner he gives the task of gathering  and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God (Ecc. 2:25-26) .

Solomon had everything this world would call prosperity. He should have been the happiest and the most fulfilled man on earth. Yet, Solomon said this about life “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecc. 1:2). In this one sentence he repeats the word vanity three times for emphasis. When he surveyed what he had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind (Ec. 6:11).

The Laodicean said “I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But Jesus told them “you do not realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (Rev 3:17). Worldly definitions of success focus on what is fleeting; the increase in goods is not what follows a person into eternity. On the contrary the Bible defines success in terms of what is spiritual and lasting. We must never exchange what is eternal (Matt. 16:26, Heb. 11:25-26) for what is fleeting (James 4:14).

The three disciples closest to Jesus were Peter, John and James (Matt 17:1, Mark 5:37, 14:32-33). James was the first disciple to die (Acts 12:1-2), he was killed. The last disciple to die was John and he died of a natural cause. John the Baptist a cousin to Jesus was beheaded in his early thirties. Yet Jesus said that among those born of a woman there was no prophet greater than John (Luke 7:28). Prosperity is not how or when we die, it’s the quality of the life we live both in this and in the next world.

Godliness has value for all things holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). A godly man will be successful wherever he goes. By faith we know this word is sure. We know that our works are prospered, even when it does not appear to be so. Sometimes our prosperity will be outwardly (Isa. 58:11), but mostly it will be inward prosperity which is more important. After all what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).

Success is not wisdom, nor strength, nor riches, its accurate knowledge and understanding of God, which is eternal life “(Jer. 9: 23- 24, John 17:3). There are many benefits in this life to walking in God’s way. When we develop a close relationship with the Lord (John 14:23), He will make known to us the path of life; fill us with joy in his presence and eternal pleasures at his right hand (Ps 16:11).

God will enlarge our ability to understand him and his ways (Jer. 29:13). We shall begin to see things from His perspective (Rom.8:28). We shall have more patience and find it easier to wait for His timing (Rom 4: 18-22). When we face adversity, we shall be increasingly stable and steadfast (Ps. 125:1). We shall impact others because all the benefits will be evident to those around us.