LIGHT FOR THE SUCCESSFUL LIFE

“...For then you will MAKE YOUR WAY PROSPEROUS, and then you will have GOOD SUCCESS” – Joshua 1:8b

The Bible beams unique LIGHT for the SUCCESSFUL LIFE through the case study of Joshua: “This BOOK of the LAW shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall MEDITATE in it day and night, that you may observe to DO according to all that is written in it. For then you will MAKE YOUR WAY PROSPEROUS, and then you will have GOOD SUCCESS” (Jos.1:8). God is not against Success. He spoke much about “success” long before the world began to corrupt and misuse the term. The Lord enlightened Joshua about how he could lead a successful life. It is not surprising that God qualifies the kind and standard of success intended for His people – nothing less than Good Success!

Multitudes all over the world have totally wrong ideas about ‘Success’ and therefore waste much of their lives seeking after vanities (Eccl.1:2). Getting their bearings wrong, they veer out in erroneous directions, in pursuit of fame, fortune, popularity and pleasures, and end up discarded in the junkyard of failure, wallowing among maggots of materialism! That’s the consequence of not knowing that God is the Author of all ‘good gifts’ – good success, promotion, and prosperity: “Every GOOD GIFT and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (Jam. 1:17). God is our Model for all that is good and successful!

The adjective “good” in both Joshua 1:8 and James 1:17, implies that there are semblances of success, which when stripped of all exterior covering and deceptive façade, would reveal their core ugliness and emptiness. Globally, the world has witnessed the tragic ends of society’s superstars and popular icons in the fields of music, entertainment and sports. Many of these individuals appeared to be the very symbols of success and portraits of prosperity. While on top of their games, they swam in affluence and basked in fame. Sadly, many who shared laughter and excitement the world over, lost all smiles and laughter in their final days. Some drowned in the depths of debts; while others got hooked in the claws of destructive addictions. Proverbs 1:32 describes these somberly: “…the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”

Good Success means for us to be fruitful and fulfilled, and to finish every assignment God has placed in our hearts and hands. Good Success is found in the BOOK, but there must be ardent search and digging through Meditation, Confession, and Action: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he MEDITATES day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he DOES shall prosper” (Psa.1: 2-3). The Light for the Successful Life shines as we confess, meditate in, and DO the WORD!