Defining Success
Good morning, friends! Day Two! Do you want to be successful? There are no shortcuts to success, and defining success is complicated in a world that emphasizes the flesh.
Bible Reading: Joshua 1-4
Verse of the day is: Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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.”
Word of the day is: Success. It is the Hebrew word: שָׂכַל (saw-kal’).
This word means: “To prosper, to wisely understand.”
Trust His Faithfulness
The book of Joshua provides a history of God’s people as they left Egypt and entered Canaan. The Greek name Jesus simply translates the Hebrew name Joshua. Joshua was used to save the Israelites, a foreshadowing of Jesus. Joshua leads God’s people through battle after battle against their enemies, but we also see the battle within as God’s people must battle their disobedience in order to be faithful and successful in God’s eyes.
Success Means Remaining Faithful
Success as defined by the world will lead us into failure. Ironic, isn’t it? Success is not prosperity in the world’s eyes, either. Years ago the LORD impressed upon me that success is faithfulness. Matthew 25:23 says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But this is hard when we compare to the world’s definition of success. When we use the world’s metrics, we view success through a warped lens. I love this definition of our word of the day – success is to wisely understand. This only happens as our minds are saturated in God’s word.
Do you feel like a failure friend? Where do those feelings come from? Man? Yourself? Comparison? Rejection? Do you want to be successful and fear failure?
Application
- Success comes from God, not ourselves or our achievements.
- When we abide in God’s word, we cannot fail.
- Success is in who you are, not what you have.
Joshua 1:7 reiterates where success is found, “Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.”
Go with God and His precious word, friends! Join us tomorrow in the book of Isaiah!
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