Just what is good success? What is bad success? How can you differentiate a good success from bad success?
This post will show you, in simple language and description, what good success is?
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What is good success? How the bible describes it
First and foremost, let us look at this portion of the bible below:
This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall mediate therein day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success” (Joshua 1:8).
The first time I read this portion of the Bible, I was inspired to understand that there is a good success and a bad success. The Word of God says if
“you will listen to the voice of God, obey His commandments, study and meditate daily on His Word, you will have good success”.
The Word of God qualifies the noun “success” with the adjective “good”. This simply means you will not have a bad success if you follow God’s rules during your success journey in life.
The questions now are:
- What then, is a good success and what is a bad success?
- How do you differentiate a good success from a bad success?
- How do you recognize someone with a bad success and someone with a good success?
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Definition of Good Success
I have tried to study carefully the lives of people God used mightily in Bible days and those of present times and I found out that there are actually some people with good success stories. I was able to reach a conclusion using my definition of a successful person stated earlier on as a basis of analysis.
That is, somebody with a good success must have started and completed a good project and must have helped one or more people to do the same.
Let us look at some good examples.
God was successful at the creation project
Let me start with God Almighty Himself. He enjoyed good success during the creation of heaven and the earth. He actually set the pace at creation, showing us how to obtain good success in whatever we do.
“And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day (Genesis 1:31).
There were many obstacles, which stared Him in the face when He was creating the heavens and the earth but He never allowed them to stop Him.
“And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).
Even a formless earth and the darkness that came with it could not prevent Him from achieving His good aim!
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26).
He also made man (Adam) and transferred His “breath of Life” into him for him to become a living soul. What a loving and selfless God who completed a good project and also empowered somebody to act like Him.
Jesus was successful while He lived on the earth
Jesus Christ is the most successful human being that has ever (and will ever) walked the surface of this planet earth.
“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith: Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
This Man fulfilled His good mission of coming to the earth. He came as the “Lamb of God” to take the sins of the world away.
Even in the face of great oppositions, He never lost sight of what He came to do. He pushed on and on helping a lot people along the way to overcome various problems.
He also mentored the twelve disciples and others during this period. This Man died, resurrected, and presently sits at the right hand side of God the Father acting as an advocate in the presence of God for us. Jesus had good success during His journey on the surface of the earth.
Joshua was successful leading Israel
“And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua and who had known all the works of the LORD that He had done for Israel” (Joshua 24:31).
Joshua took over the reins of leadership of Israel from Moses and this man did excellently well. During his tenure, the whole of Israel served the Lord.
What a wonderful feat! It must have taken great Godly efforts on the part of Joshua to influence all of Israel to serve God! Joshua did a good thing by serving God and also did better by influencing the people to serve God. He had good success.
And Many More
Countless numbers of people in the Bible had good success stories. Moses, Apostle Paul, King David, Joseph, John the Baptist, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all had good success stories.
There was something that was common with all these people and that was the fact that they feared God during their journeys on this earth, made Godly efforts to achieve their aims and also added values or influenced so many others to be successful.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy one is understanding” (Proverbs 1:10).
You can become a child of God by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior and begin to live a life that has the fear of God. You can expect to record a good number of good successes in your lifetime after you have done this.
Related: Read books about successful people
About bad success
I may not need to bother you with the stories of people who recorded bad success stories in the Bible or even in our society today but you will observe that this set of people also have some things in common – they lived Godless lives and made ungodly efforts to achieve their aims.
You can study the stories of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt when the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt. Cain who killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). Herod the king who ordered the killings of all new born babies when Jesus was born (Matthew 2:13-23).
Satan who fell from grace to grass because of pride (Luke 10:18). Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus (Matthew 26:36-46).
These People all recorded bad success stories.
Famous But Miserable
I feel very bad when I read the stories of many famous people all over the world who have distinguished themselves in various fields but who ended up either committing suicide or jailed for one offense or the other.
It is very common nowadays to read in the dailies, stories of men and women who have distinguished themselves in their various fields finding it difficult to maintain a steady home front. Divorce cases are filed at any slightest provocation leading to separation between husbands and wives.
Popular sports stars have been suspended or banned for spiking their systems with banned substances. Widely-acclaimed successful business people have found no reason to live again by taking their own lives.
Popular music stars that used satanic means to achieve their goals have felt very miserable and have taken their own lives even at the height of their Satan-assisted successes.
A self-confessed or widely-acclaimed successful man or woman in these categories mentioned above cannot have any reasonable impact on people looking up to them for guidance. They will not be able to play or act adequately the second part of my definition for a successful man.
My dear reader, I want to believe you desire to be a good success; If this is so, then, I humbly advise you to read carefully all that is contained in the remaining chapters of this book.
I have produced this book to teach you how you can be the real successful person with principles laid down by this great Man called Jesus. However if you must learn success principles from the life of Jesus, then you must know who He is.
I will be discussing who Jesus is in the next eight chapters of this book.
This article and post is part of the hugely successful Bible Short Report, Jesus and Your Success ebook guide.
Download the ebook, Jesus and Your Success here
