One thing that’s a given about the God of the Bible is that He wants you to succeed.
God has never made a failure (even though people fail).
You're wired for success and God is rooting for your success.
He’s your number one cheerleader.
The Bible says He is for you and not against you. (see Romans 8:31)
He wants you to prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. (see 3 John 1:2)
His joy is to see you succeed just like He intended you to when you left His hands.
Infact, He wants you to succeed more than you want to succeed.
But to do so, you need to understand how God defines success.
There’s a glaring difference between how the world defines success and how God defines success.
Infact, it’s like day and night.
Now most of how we think of success today is influenced heavily by how the world views success.
First, we think success is to attain fame, accolades, achievements, power and wealth.
When you talk of a successful person today, the first thing that comes to mind is someone who is rich, well accomplished, powerful, well-known or a cocktail of all these.
If you’re not ‘living the good life’ or you don't drive the latest car or have the best paying job or a house in the Hamtons or the most expensive clothes or all the other finer things in life, you’re a failure according to the world’s standard of measuring success.
If people are not worshiping at your feet and wishing they were you, you’re yet to arrive.
Sad to say, many of us have subscribed to this line of thinking and we're basically idol worshippers.
Now you're probably thinking,"aht aht not me!"
Well that's because you're probably thinking of the typical idol worship where people worship some made up god or bow down at the feet of some wooden image fashioned in the shape of some animal, but according to the Bible, this is not the only form of idol worship.
Paul also says covetousness is idolatry (see Colossians 3:5) and if that's the case, i can tell you for free, this world is filled with idol worshippers.
And you fit the bill if there's anything that you want or desire for yourself right now more than you want or desire God such that it pemeates you entire being or becomes your key driver whether that is wealth, fame, power, accomplishments, accolades or even people (wife/husband..kids etc).
Secondly, we think of success as doing something 'big' or 'great'.
If you’re not doing something huge, your life is not counting for anything.
If you’re not building an ark like Noah or slaying Goliath like David or leading millions like Moses, then what you’re doing is not really counting for anything.
This is the attitude many of us, especially we young people, tend to carry around.
To most of us bigger is better.
We’re quick to turn down jobs we think are beneath us or despise the jobs we have and think of them as mere stepping stones to greater things or pass times until we strike gold.
This kind of attitude has to do with this thinking that we are all meant to be or do something ‘great’ according to the world’s definition of great.
So everything else until we become ‘great’ isn’t really important so we treat it with contempt.
But we forget that the Bible says that God looks at our faithfulness in the little things before we can be trusted with greater things.
We forget the Bible is filled with people whose contribution is not what would be considered 'big' or 'great' in today's society.
Ananias contribution for example was just laying hands on Paul and praying for him and we never hear of the guy again yet he's an important part of the story.
Rahab on the other hand simply hid some spies.
To the natural it looks small and insignificant, but to God it’s big; so much she gets an honorable mention on the Hebrews wall of faith (see Hebrews 11).
I believe if it wasn’t for her, Israel would probably never have conquired Jericho which was the only city standing between them and the promised land.
The truth is not everyone is meant to do what the world considers ‘big’ or ‘great’.
But that’s okay.
The lead would be nothing without its supporting cast.
As much as this world needs presidents, CEOs, business magnates, pilots, doctors and lawyers, it also needs mechanics, garbage collectors, carpenters, cleaners, housewives and all these people and jobs society tends to look down on.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:17-20:
“After all, if the body were all one eye, for example, where would be the sense of hearing? Or if it were all one ear, where would be the sense of smell? But God has arranged all the parts in the one body according to His design. For if everything were concentrated in one part, how could there be a body at all? The fact is there are many parts, but only one body. So that the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” nor, again, can the head say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
Paul is basically saying we cannot all do the same thing and no one can say they don’t need the other or they don't need what the other has to offer regardless of how insignificant it may look in the eyes of men.
Paul goes on to say in verse 22-24, that these callings we consider small are necessary and God actually bestows greater honor to these.
“On the contrary, those parts of the body which have no obvious function are the more essential to health: and to those parts of the body which seem to us to be less deserving of notice we have to allow the highest honor of function. The parts which do not look beautiful have a deeper beauty in the work they do, while the parts which look beautiful may not be at all essential to life! But God has harmonized the whole body by giving importance of function to the parts which lack apparent importance, that the body should work together as a whole with all the members in sympathetic relationship with one another.“
So clearly God doesn’t see things the same way we do.
Those callings we consider less honorable, He considers more honorable and He has harmonized/balanced/blended our callings such that we all need each other as believers in the body of Christ.
Thirdly, we think of success as getting to the point where there is little or no suffering. A place of comfort and happiness.
But the Bible is filled with people whose latter years were actually worse than their former years.
The most famous of these is Jesus.
Things didn’t get easier or more comfortable for Jesus as He drew closer to the end of His life…they grew worse climaxing at His crucifixion.
So if we’re measuring success by decrease or absence of problems then Jesus was a failure and so were many other characters in the Bible.
The world today would label these men and women failures, yet God regards them as success stories.
To God whether you suffer or not is not a true measure of success or lack of it which then begs the question, how does God define success?
Well for God, success is neither attaining fame, accolades, accomplishments, power or wealth nor is it doing big or great things in the eyes of men. It’s not the reduction or total elimination of problems either even though most of us including many believers have fallen into these worldly definitions of success hook, line and sinker.
His standard of measuring success is totally different from the world’s.
To God, success is simply doing what He has called you to do whether it comes with wealth, fame, accolades, achievements, power or not. Whether its big or great in the eyes of men or not. Whether it means a reduction or end to your suffering or not.
Your life will have been a success if when you stand before God at the end of your life, He says well done good and faithful servant.
Not well done good and accomplished servant or well done good and rich servant or well done good and famous servant.
Godly success is not based on all these temporary things that will pass away.
It's also not based on the size of your contribution in this world either.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15:
“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
Now notice Paul doesn’t say of what size it is but of what sort it is.
To God it’s not about how much you do for Him or how grand but the value of it.
According to the Bible, what you do for God as a believer can be either gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw.
Now wood, hay and straw here is not speaking of the sinful things that you do, but the good things that you do that are not God things.
Things you do out of the flesh that are not necessarily bad, but they're not God either.
In other words you are not led by the Spirit to do them or to put it differently, God did not tell you to do them.
It looks like something great to do in your own eyes and in the eyes of men, and you probably think you're doing God a favor and you will probably help a lot of people and receive alot of applause from men but it is all you and they will count for nothing when you stand before Jesus.
This is what the Bible refers to as dead works.
Dead works are simply good things we do for God without God.
And they are so many believers today building with wood, hay and straw...starting businesses God never told them to start...getting into marriages God never sanctioned...doing jobs and careers God never told them to do...starting churches God never told them to start...chasing money and material things like the world does and decorating their selfish ambitions with the name of God but God knows the selfish motives of our hearts.
The truth is there are people who are going to be standing on this huge mountain of all the great things they did in this life, even for the Lord, and it will be wood, hay and straw because it was not what God told them to do and if it was, they did it out of their own strengh and ability not His and on the other hand, there are going to be people who didn't do anything worthwhile in the eyes of men or get the world's attention or recognition and what they did is going to be gold, silver and precious stones because it's exactly what God told them to do and they did it with His strength and ability.
The ends don’t justify the means with God so it doesn’t matter whether the end result is good if it is not God.
God wants you to do what He has called you to do, and He wants you to do it out of His own strength and ability and not yours.
I tell you nothing will satisfy you more than doing what God called you to do whether it makes you rich or not, whether men notice and applaud you for it or not, whether you end is better than your beginning or not or whether it is deemed successful in the eyes of men or not.
This is what the Bible calls goldy success.
And faithfulness is sticking to your calling to the very the end.
Not turning to the left or the right…not going about creating your own Ishmaels by trying to help God out to accomplish what He has told you to do.
When God asks you to do something, He's not is not banking on your ability to do it, He's banking in His ability to do it through you. All He needs from you is your cooperation. This is why Paul speaks of the need for us as believers to be living sacrifices which is the least we can do. (see Romans 12:1)
So the big question is, can you be faithful even if what God has told you to do never makes prime time news or never makes you rich or famous or makes your life easier and better?
Jeremiah was in ministry for 40 years and the Bible says no one ever listened to him.
Infact God told him that no one would listen and there would be no positive response to his ministry.
Yet Jeremiah stuck it out and stayed faithful to God’s call because He was called to be faithful even when it was not going to be fruitful.
What a challenge to you and I.
Jeremiah might have looked like a failure in the eyes of men (even in His own eyes) but in the eyes of God, He was a success because He did exactly what God led Him to do.
So goldy success is simply obedience to God’s call on your life whatever that may be even if it doesn’t look like something successful or great in the eyes of men or it doesn’t go as expected and you often feel like a failure.
And faithfulness is when you stick it out even when there are no signs of success, no money in the bank, no applauses, no pats on the back, no worldly recognition or rewards and even a ton of frustrations.
This is the real test of your faithfulness to what God has called you to do.
I heard a story of this man of God who God frustrated that his church had just grown to just 40 people in 3 years in a town of 3 million people and the Lord highlighted the life of one person in his church whose life had been transformed and the Lord said to him, "Wouldn't it be enough if I just sent you there for this one person?"
It's not about the quantity with God but the quality.
God is going to reward each and everyone of us for doing what He called us to do not what we thought was good to do for the Lord or for self or for other people..not for following the in thing or the hottest trends or doing what makes you the most money or what gives you the best career progression or makes you popular or gets you the most views or followers on social media, but what He had told you to do...period!
He's not going to judge us by the world's standard of success but by His standard of success and you're a success to God if you do exactly what He wants you to do whether the world recognizes you/it or not.
So it's important to find out what God wants you to do and do it!
Everything else you do is subtext...it's wood, hay and straw and it will all go up in flames and you'll be the only thing left standing!
If you're not doing what God has called you to do, you're wasting your time no matter how noble or good or great or rewarding whatever you're doing is.
God didn’t look at you and see your gifts and talents and say, "Oh! He can sing/speak/act/draw!? I can use him/her for this or that!"..no..He specifically created you with those gifts and talents for what He purposed you to be or to do.
You're tailor made for what God created you for so you might as well find out what that is and do it!
Now i'm not saying don't dream big, i'm saying dream big in line with God's call on your life. Don't go chasing the world's waterfalls and end up losing it all at the feet of Jesus.
If what God has called you to do is not big or precious in the eyes of men, that's fine because it's big and precious in God's eyes and ultimately, it's Him we seek to please and Him we will give an account to in the end and not men.
It's God who will be dishing out rewards in the end so obey God and do what He wants you to do.
Sadly many of us instead of going to God and asking Him what He wants us to do, go to Him and ask Him to bless what we want to do or what we're currently doing...to bless our own things.
We’ve turned God into a rubberstamp to okay what we want to do.
This is wrong.
You know, Jesus could have started a winery and sold the best wine in town or started a miracle and healing ministry or He could even have been king (at some point they wanted to make him king) but He knew why God had sent Him here and He would not settle for anything else.
Don’t settle for anything other than God's will for your life no matter how attractive those other things may look.
One thing I have come to find out is, as a child of God, when the world and the things of the world starts to look attractive, it means you’ve taken your eyes off Jesus.
Look again unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of your faith and stay the course, beloved!
Now as you're reading through this maybe you're thinking,"But how unfair is God to give big lead roles to some and small supporting roles to others!".
Well..
1) Who are you, a mere human being, to question God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” (Romans 9:20)
2) You’re the one categorizing them as big and small through a worldly lens. In God’s eyes all callings are precious to Him and the calling we regard as lesser actually have greater honor as we’ve seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if the believing toilet cleaner gets a greater reward than the pastor with the mega church. Again, it's not about quantity with God but quality. God would rather have a good toilet cleaner than a bad pastor.
3) You're thinking carnally just like Jesus’ disciples were. And I will set you straight with the same words Jesus used to set His disciples straight when they started jostling for who would be the greatest among them. In Mark 10:42-44, the Bible says:
Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the ones who are considered the rulers by the people of the world show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, for the Son of Man didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life a ransom for many people.”
You may not be the next Billy Graham or the next Myles Monroe, but like Ananias, your faithfulness to God’s calling on your life may just help the next Paul or the next Billy Graham or the next Myles Monroe come to the saving knowledge of Christ.
I think it was Tupac who said, “I may not change the world but I will spark the brain that will change the world.” (Sometimes even the people of the world can have some wisdom for the church)
You may consider your calling small or insiginificant, but just imagine the ripple effect it can have!?
Just imagine the joy you will have in heaven when droves of angels and people you never knew or even met walk up to you and thank you for your faithfulness in that 'small' calling you despise today!?
It's my hope and prayer that this changes your perspective and you wholeheartedly embrace what God has called you to do because that's where true godly success lies and God is rooting for your success.
God bless you.
Comments