I’ve been working on a two day “Success” seminar package that I’m going to conduct at Honey Lake Resort later this year. I’m working hard on it to make it interesting and useful and I hope that some of you will join me and not only benefit from the program but also enjoy the peace and solitude of Honey Lake. One of the first things I will attempt is to define what success means and then reveal my techniques for achieving those worthy goals using biblical principles.
Some define success by the size of their portfolio; others define it as it relates to some worthy achievement they want to accomplish, such as obtaining a college degree, or maybe finding a cure for cancer; there are those who relate it to nurturing a happy loving family; a bunch of people relate it to their career; and then there are those who correlate it to all the above.
Judging from the letters I receive the overwhelming majority of folks that write to me about this subject think they must be rich in order to be successful. The Bible warns in Proverbs 23:4 “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.
Rich means loving riches to the point of making an idol of them. The desire to be rich becomes all consuming. Mark says, “How hard is it for them that trust in riches.” Being a Christian is a love of God rather than the love of the world – the love of Jesus and his cause more than wealth.
Still a man may have much wealth and not have this feeling. Abraham, Solomon, Joseph, and others who loved God and were loved by God achieved great wealth in their lifetimes. There is no question that a rich man may have tremendous wealth, and love God more; and a poor man may have little wealth and not love God at all.
However there is also no question that there are difficulties in the way of salvation for a rich man. For one thing riches sometimes totally engross their mind and fill it with cares and anxieties and leave little time for God. Many are proud of their wealth, and unwilling to become followers of Jesus or anyone. Often wealth produces luxury and vice.
To understand how difficult it is to be rich and a faithful follower of Christ, Jesus stated in Matthew 19:24 “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Some say the “eye of the needle” was a small gate at the entrance of Jerusalem and other cities. When the city-keepers had locked the main gates, camels and their owners who arrived after hours could squeeze through this gate. But I have recently changed my mind about this when I read from several sources that scholars have searched in vain to find ancient evidence that people referred to any of these gates as “the eye of a needle”.
Others have said the Aramaic word for camel was the same as the word for rope, and that Jesus meant it was difficult for rope to go through the eye of a needle. Well, Jesus did speak Aramaic, but again, reliable evidence is weak that this is what He meant.
Such explanations downplay the clever illustration that Jesus came up with to teach the difficulty of the rich getting into Heaven. He was talking to the rich young ruler at the time, and the man was sad at hearing this because he was very rich.
He would hardly have been sad knowing that camels always got through the city gate. And he would hardly be sad knowing that anyone could untwist a piece of rope to thread it through the eye of a sewing needle.
I’m convinced that the eye of a needle means the eye of a needle and a camel is a large animal. The disciples exclaimed it was impossible, but Jesus’ explanation was that what is impossible for men is possible with God. This demonstrates that rich men can be saved and enter Heaven, but only if they put their faith in God’s grace rather than in their riches.
I’ll go ahead and give you my interpretation of what success is without your having to attend the seminar. I define success as knowing peace, joy, and happiness in one’s life. I have found that enjoying success in this life is impossible without finding and fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives. That doesn’t mean that we cannot make a ton of money, obtain a degree, find a cure for cancer, or accomplish other significant achievements by doing things not related to God’s will for our lives, but it does mean we cannot know real peace, joy, and happiness unless we find God’s purpose for our lives and begin working towards accomplishing it. Peace, joy, and happiness can only come from God.
If you believe God’s purpose for you in life is to become rich, realize that God’s purpose for some folks is indeed to accumulate tremendous wealth. These are the philanthropists, those caring wonderful people who donate thousands, millions, and even billions of dollars to spread the Gospel of Christ, assist the poor, and other mighty works of God. It is a worthy goal, but a risky one and God plainly illustrates the difficulty of not being corrupted by it. Just be very careful when you get there to remember to put Christ first in everything.
My suggestion is to listen to your heart and if you are sure that God is leading you down that path, then go for it. Realize too that many people will not like you when you succeed. Don’t listen to them, especially our President and the strange group of people who control the media and think that capitalism is evil. They are turning up the heat in class warfare and trying to portray all wealthy people, particularly CEO’s and other businessmen as being greedy pigs.
Hey it’s not just me saying it; I received this satire laced e-mail the other day concerning in part the deteriorating opinion today of entrepreneurs like myself as observed by one of the WFTD’s readers:
“…Secondly, what’s even more sad is that there are far too many people in this country now days that would actually think more highly of you if you had not earned your wealth. Rather than respect for your accomplishments, you are now labeled a “greedy capitalist” or some other similar label.
I actually work for one of your former companies and since I’m not an ‘enlightened liberal’ I’m actually stupid enough to be glad you were successful because I don’t have enough sense to realize if you had not started this company, and had the dedication and wisdom to make it successful, the government would support me and I would not have to work at all. I also have yet to realize that as soon as we can drive all those people like yourself out of this country (along with your profit mongering companies) we’ll all have it so much easier since we’ll no longer have to work for anything (yet we’ll have anything we want, right?) OH, and don’t forget…. We’ll also be able to rid ourselves of all you crooked business people who only oppress us and steal from us, then we can put everything into the hands of our “honest politicians” who’ll treat us fairly and always put our needs ahead of their own…Thanks for listening to me rant, I enjoy words for the day very much.”
Hmmm… I think he is astute. Be careful for what you ask.
Luke 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.