Success as the Bible sees it

IT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

It comes from Dennis Knight of Elk City, Oklahoma, and he wins a free book for his trouble.

Here’s his question:

What is success from a biblical standpoint?

It just so happens that I have a section on what the Bible says about success in my book Stephen M. Miller’s Bible Snapshots.

Have a look.

SUCCESS

Success for a Christian doesn’t look anything like success in the business world—exactly the opposite, in fact. At least as the Bible tells it.

• He [Jesus] began washing his disciples’ feet. . . . Then he said: “Do you understand what I have done. . . . I have set the example, and you should do for each other exactly what I have done for you. . . . God will bless you, if you do them” (John 13:5, 12, 15, 17, CEV). Leaders in God’s kingdom don’t strut. They kneel.

• You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served (Matthew 20:25-28, MSG).

• I realized that we work and do wonderful things just because we are jealous of others. This makes no more sense than chasing the wind (Ecclesiastes 4:4, CEV). The reason this kind of success is meaningless: we die and our success dies with us. “We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born” (Ecclesiastes 5:15).

• You can’t worship God and Money both (Matthew 6:24, MSG).

• Commit to the Lord everything you do. Then your plans will succeed (Proverbs 16:3, NIRV).