On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
--Psalm 62:7
Through the years, I’ve read a number of wonderful books on personal development, motivation, and success.
And of course, there are many definitions about what success really is. My friend, Christian author and speaker John Maxwell, gives one of the best definitions I have ever read. He says, “Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.”
So according to Maxwell, success is knowing and growing and sowing.
Bible teacher and author Charles Stanley writes, “Success is the continuing achievement of becoming the person God wants you to be and accomplishing the goals God has helped you to set.” Stanley says that success is becoming the person God made you to be…the person God designed you to become in Him.
In our success-crazed culture, it’s important to remember that real success isn’t found in the label of your clothes, the brand of the car you drive, or even your title at work. True success is found in your character and in your commitment to what really matters.
It’s not fame or fortune, but the fulfillment of God’s purpose and God’s plan for your life that really counts!
True success is becoming the person that God has made you to be.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.”
Luke 15:15–16
Though Sam Jones was raised by godly parents and grandparents, he turned to drink, and his brilliant and promising legal career was destroyed by his alcoholism. He lost job after job but refused to quit drinking. Finally, a visit to his father’s deathbed provoked a change. Jones later said, “I went to the bar and begged for a glass of liquor. I got the glass and started to drink and looked into the mirror. I saw my hair matted, the filth and vomit on my clothes, one of my eyes totally closed, and my lips swollen. And I said, ‘Is that all that is left of the proud and brilliant lawyer, Sam Jones?’ I smashed the glass on the floor and fell to my knees and cried, ‘Oh God! Oh God, have mercy!’ Something happened to old Sam Jones.”
The following Sunday, Jones walked the aisle of his grandfather’s church and announced his conversion, and the next week began preaching the gospel. Jones said, “I have been going round the country bragging about Jesus ever since.” Sam Jones crisscrossed the South for the next several decades, seeing half a million people saved under his ministry. But it was not until he had lost everything that he was willing to turn to God.
Too many times we insist on continuing in our sin until we reach absolute rock bottom, instead we should quickly repent and turn to God. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).
Today’s Growth Principle:
We do not have to wait until we suffer tragedy and great loss before we turn to God.
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