dhalltoyo
Veteran Expediter
Can your life be marred by one failure after another and still be successful? It's a question just about everyone asks at one point in their life or another. We all go through stretches where we can't seem to get anything right. For some people, those stretches can last a lifetime.
The answer, it seems, is “no.” You can't possibly fail miserably time after time and be successful, right?
Wrong! It is possible, and I'm going to show you how.
You see, the goal isn't just to show you success in this life, though we want to help you achieve that as much as possible. No the goal is to help you become successful in God's eyes.
That may sound overly spiritual. But if you think about where you're going to spend the bulk of your life, you'll spend only a short time here on earth. The rest you'll spend in the afterlife, in heaven, or in hell. So it's far more important to succeed in God's eyes than in worldly ways.
Success in God's eyes isn't determined by how much money you have, how big your family is, how much you accomplish, or any other worldly standard. God determines success by righteousness. That's not to say those other things aren't good. They are. And God uses them to bless us at His discretion. But His bottom line is righteousness.
The perfect example is Job. While most people think of Job as a story about tough times (which it is), I tend to think of his story as the clearest depiction of ultimate success ever written. I don't think that because of what Job ends up with at the end of the story. I believe it because the entire discussion between God and Satan is centered on Job's righteousness.
Satan believes Job is righteous only because of his wealth. God knows better. Satan believes Job will abandon God if he loses everything. God knows better. Satan strips Job of every worldly form of success “his money, his family, his health, everything“and Job remains righteous.
But Job isn't the only one where we see righteousness as the foundation for ultimate success. Jabez, whose prayer is successful, not because of his prayer, but because of what the Scriptures call him before he prays: “And Jabez was more righteous than his brothers.” In fact, I believe God answered his prayer because of his righteousness.
And all those saints in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 were successful in God's eyes because of their righteousness. Not because of their wealth or lack of wealth.
So if you're barely getting by, seeming to fail at every turn, don't give up hope. Your hope should rest in Christ and His righteousness. In fact, all of your failures should bring about even more hope in Christ, knowing He uses our weakness to demonstrate His strength.
Now, if your failure is due to a lack of righteousness, that's a different story.
---Steve Kroening
The answer, it seems, is “no.” You can't possibly fail miserably time after time and be successful, right?
Wrong! It is possible, and I'm going to show you how.
You see, the goal isn't just to show you success in this life, though we want to help you achieve that as much as possible. No the goal is to help you become successful in God's eyes.
That may sound overly spiritual. But if you think about where you're going to spend the bulk of your life, you'll spend only a short time here on earth. The rest you'll spend in the afterlife, in heaven, or in hell. So it's far more important to succeed in God's eyes than in worldly ways.
Success in God's eyes isn't determined by how much money you have, how big your family is, how much you accomplish, or any other worldly standard. God determines success by righteousness. That's not to say those other things aren't good. They are. And God uses them to bless us at His discretion. But His bottom line is righteousness.
The perfect example is Job. While most people think of Job as a story about tough times (which it is), I tend to think of his story as the clearest depiction of ultimate success ever written. I don't think that because of what Job ends up with at the end of the story. I believe it because the entire discussion between God and Satan is centered on Job's righteousness.
Satan believes Job is righteous only because of his wealth. God knows better. Satan believes Job will abandon God if he loses everything. God knows better. Satan strips Job of every worldly form of success “his money, his family, his health, everything“and Job remains righteous.
But Job isn't the only one where we see righteousness as the foundation for ultimate success. Jabez, whose prayer is successful, not because of his prayer, but because of what the Scriptures call him before he prays: “And Jabez was more righteous than his brothers.” In fact, I believe God answered his prayer because of his righteousness.
And all those saints in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 were successful in God's eyes because of their righteousness. Not because of their wealth or lack of wealth.
So if you're barely getting by, seeming to fail at every turn, don't give up hope. Your hope should rest in Christ and His righteousness. In fact, all of your failures should bring about even more hope in Christ, knowing He uses our weakness to demonstrate His strength.
Now, if your failure is due to a lack of righteousness, that's a different story.
---Steve Kroening
