What Success Means

After you become a Christian, one of the first things you want to accomplish in your life is to become a mature Christian. Becoming a mature Christian means to you that temptation ceases, you maintain a consistent prayer life, and in short the Christian life takes on a blissful, happy forever life without trials. It doesn’t take you long to realize that this much sought after maturity takes years, if not decades, to accomplish. And to make matters worse, maturity you find out is an on going relationship with Jesus Christ that only comes into completion when you are joined together with Him in heaven. Until then the struggle between the flesh and the spirit continues.

A story about an Indian conversion comes to mind. An Indian said a black dog lived in his heart, but when Christ became His Savior a big white dog came to live in his heart, and the two dogs were then fighting all the time. After the meeting someone approached him and inquired, “Which dog wins, the white one or the black one?” The Indian replied, “The one I feed the most.” Ouch! If you are honest with yourself, the way to measure your Christian maturity is by assessing whether you feed the flesh or the spirit the most in your life. That leads to an interesting question: how can I feed the spirit in my life to become more mature?

The Holy Scriptures tell you time and time again the answer to this most important question. I like the way it is stated in Psalm 1 talking about the attributes of a happy, content, prosperous man. It says in verses 2 to 3: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night, and he will be life a river firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in due season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers.” The focus of the world in which you live is prosperity—not only monetary but also in prestige and status. Look closely to the end of verse three: “in whatever he does he prospers.” I know what you are thinking, “Please tell me how I can prosper in everything I do.” The Word of God, being the practical book that it is, tells you exactly how to find success in all your ways. It is revealed in verse 2: “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

These verses reveal that your success depends upon your complete reliance upon the Holy Bible to guide your daily decisions and mental thoughts. Go out and be a success for your Lord Jesus by thinking more and more on the Holy Scriptures. I foresee success in your future!!