Our society oozes with the philosophy of success. From the time you can remember you are constantly encouraged to be the best and be successful in everything you do. It does not matter if it is in school, in personal achievement, the job, and even in your recreation, you are driven to success. It has become the American dream.
The problem with success is that it always seems to be a little illusive. No matter how much success you achieve, it never seems to be enough. Even your spiritual life does not elude this thing called success. No matter how lofty your ambitions may be, success seems to dictate your self worth.
That is why there must be something to balance your life to have a realistic perspective of success. The trait that the Scriptures give is not a popular one today. It is plain and simple: being humble. It gives you a right relationship with your fellow man and with God. D. L. Moody, that evangelist of the last century used mightily of God, has this to say: “Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; then he spent the next forty years on the back side of the desert realizing he was a nobody; finally, he spent the last forty years of his life learning what God can do with a nobody!” Before you can obtain any success in life, you have to humble yourself and become a nobody. After that, God can and will allow you to be used by Him to get the success in life He wants you to have.
The apostle Peter comes across as a stern, do it now, self-assurance kind of person in the life you see in the gospels. Let the denial of the Lord Jesus right before He is crucified and the filling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost occur and everything changes. Read his words in his epistle written years later: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6). Yes, Peter learned to have true success in life meant that you had to humble yourself and wait on God giving you success. Any other success is not fulfilling.
Stop striving for your success and learn from the Master who said “I am gentle and humble of heart.” Find success by being “humble” just like our Lord Jesus, after all He is your example. Follow Him!
