Most people are in a mad pursuit to succeed in life. And there is a myriad of materials in the market on how to be successful in life. Success is not defined correctly by many. Many of those materials give a distorted image of true success. Success is not equated only what one accomplishes in life time but what one leaves behind after the life time. True success is not measure by seeing the present but eternal.
An important meeting of the world’s greatest financiers took place at Chicago in 1927. Present were Charles Schwab, President of the largest steel company; Samuel Insull, President of the largest utility company; Authur Cutton, the greatest wheat speculator; Richard Whitley, President of the New York Stock Exchange; Albert Fall, a member of the Cabinet; Jessie Livermore, the greatest bear on Wall Street; Ivar Kreuger, head of the world’s greatest monopoly; Leon Fraser, President of the Bank of International Settlement; and Howard Hopson, President of the largest gas company. All these men were considered to be outstandingly successful, yet what happened to them?
Charles Schwab died bankrupt. Samuel Insull became a fugitive and was considered to be insolvent. Authur Cutton died abroad insolvent. Richard Whitley was sent to prison. Albert Fall was pardoned in prison, and died at home. Jessie Livermore committed suicide. Ivar Kreuger committed suicide. Leon Fraser committed suicide. And Howard Hopson went insane. Surely something must have been wrong with the goals of these men and with what people believe success to be, even if only temporary. It is true most of us equate success with financial success. But this success lasts at most only for a lifetime, and the old saying is certainly correct: “You can’t take it with you.” While financial success or popularity may be regarded as success, it is not the success that really counts! Financial success or eminence in this world is not true success. What is then true success? I would like to put in simple steps to understand true success.
The ABC of success.
Attitude – The world equates success from the outside seeing the glitter, glory and grandeur. True success is inside out. Attitude of our heart will determine true success. Like the saying goes “Our attitude will determine our altitude”. The greatest attitude one has to develop is the attitude of humility. Jesus said “If anyone wants to be first (succeed), he must be the very last, and the servant of all. (Mark 9:35) A person who is humble is willing to be a servant of all. Your attitude of humility is the single most contributors for your true success.
Belief – Many books say that you have to believe in yourself to succeed. Just believing in you will not bring true success. You have to believe in God who created you and who has planned success for your life. For He says “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you (make your successful) and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). Apostle Paul says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me” (Philippians 4:13). Do you believe in yourself to succeed or do you trust in God for success? When we trust in the Lord with all our heart He will bring success in your life in His own way and time.
Choice – A good attitude and belief in God isn’t enough to succeed you have to make some choices. Two choices that will help you to succeed are; firstly spend time with Lord Jesus Christ every single day. I cannot stress that enough for the success minded Christians. So often we spend our time working on things that have no bearing on our future. Joseph, David, Daniel and Paul in the Bible are some examples for us in the Bible. They carried good attitude, trusted in the Lord made right choices at crucial points of their life. “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). When we spend time with Jesus then we are abiding in Him. His mind and heart is transferred to us. Secondly, study the Word of God. When we study the Word of God we can know the purposes of God for our lives.
True success is not seeing our dreams fulfilled, reaching our celebrated destinations and accomplishing the desires of our heart. True success is fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. When we follow the revealed Word of God it reveals the purposes for our lives. And as we follow them with all our heart, mind, soul and strength we will have true success God had planned for us. Follow ABC for true success.