Are You Truly Successful – Ashwin Poojary.

In today’s world, success is often pursued with a capital ‘S’. We tend to think of successful people as rich businessmen, athletes and sport stars and even film and television celebrities. People pursue riches, fame and fitness so that they can be really happy in their lives. Even in Christendom, there are people who seek these things and believe that worldly prosperity is a sign of success.
But what is the real definition of success? Is it just being rich and famous and healthy? Is it just living a comfortable life and driving in expensive cars and living in mansions on earth? Why do we see so many celebrities getting addicted to drugs, alcohol and an immoral life? Why is the crime rate so high in rich cities and among the youth in these cities, as well as in poor cities? Why do so many businessmen and industrialists still long for more and more money and not seem satisfied with what they already have? Why are they so many divorce rates and immorality so high in the world today? Because the world has not tasted true success yet.
Let us see what true success is all about. We see in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, about a man named Joseph, who was in prison. He had been sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, became the head slave in a rich man’s house in Egypt, then falsely accused by the rich man’s wife of trying to commit adultery with her, and finally put in prison with no hope of seeing the day. He was in the worst possible state a young man could get in his time. Yet, what does the word of God say about him? In Genesis 39:20-23, it says:- 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Later on, when Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt and was second in command to Pharaoh, the whole of Egypt and subsequently the whole ancient world became subject to him. We may think that Joseph became successful at that time, but is it really true? Was he not successful when he was a slave, and also in prison? My dear friends, the true measure of success is not whether we have health, wealth or fame, but if the Lord is with us. God says in His Word that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the silver and gold in the world is His. He uproots and puts kings and rulers in authority according to His own will and wisdom.
So, we see that the true measure of success is having the Lord with us at all times. You may be poor, you may not be good-looking or beautiful in appearance, you may not be well educated or refined in your manners, but if the Lord is with you, that is all that you need. It does not make any difference what people think of you. If the Lord is with you and you are His child, He will make all the difference in the world to you. He is true success in your life.
We read in the book of Matthew 3:16-17:- 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Here we see that the Father in heaven was pleased with our Lord Jesus even before He had begun His ministry on earth. He had just spent His time before that obeying His earthly parents and making benches and stools as a carpenter in Nazareth. His ministry, which He did for 3 ½ years after that was just the remaining 10 percent of His earthly life which He did. What does the word of God say about that? We read in Acts 10:38:- 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Hence, let us make every effort to trust in our Lord Jesus and obey Him with all our hearts, so that the Lord can be with us all of our lives till the end. May God enable us to be truly successful in the eyes of God so that we can receive our true rewards when Jesus comes to give us the eternal kingdom which can never spoil, perish or fade, kept in heaven for us. Amen.