Key to Success

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 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. (Joshua 1:1–8)

In this study of ‘therefore’ as a word about consequences, God is showing me how the OT points to Jesus and NT truths. That is, the OT events point to a greater reality. This passage is another one of them.

Moses and Law remind me of the promise of a Messiah and that God’s people wanted to obey but continually failed to keep the law. Then the death of Moses changed leadership. Joshua. Because Moses died, Joshua was given leadership into the land of promise. And I know this does not point to heaven but to a difference in their lives.

Joshua means “Jehovah saves” — another phase in the history of redemption. If I look at it as part of a salvation journey, it points to being set free from slavery to sin and learning how to walk in that redeemed freedom. It takes a lifetime and without the power of Christ, I cannot do it, just as the OT people of God struggled in their battle to live out the will of God in the land He gave them.

Again, this is not heaven. If it were, there would be no enemies and no battles, no lessons in how to live in total surrender to the God who saves. This is why He told Joshua and He tells me that He will be with me. All blessings are mine, and no one can take that from me. Obedience is vital to my success. So is reading and thinking about God's will day and night.

Fear and becoming down-hearted are my enemies so He adds: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9–10) This is not about emotional stability but about remembering and knowing that He is with me — all the time and wherever I am.

Jesus, Your presence is always with me, like the air around me. If I forget that, my life goes sideways or upside-down. It is never Your fault for You are faithful to Your word. May I alway be mindful that You never leave me alone. You are my strength and my obedience, my Savior and success.

Faith and success?

Do most new Christians think that by believing in Christ and trusting God to lead them that they will wind up in a place of success? I did. I thought God would give me awesome challenges and some kind of prominence in His kingdom if I did as He asked. When that didn’t happen, I assumed I did something wrong and became upset with myself. This was a foolish assumption and a self-centered conclusion.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8)

Abraham is called the ‘father of faith’ because he simply believed God. When God asked him to do something, he did it. In this verse, it was separating himself from his country and kin, and without a clue going where God was leading him.

Today, this separation is more mental and moral. That is, God calls me to be separate from the way the world thinks and separate from my old life of sin.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices (Colossians 3:5–9)

This separation might also include people who do not have the same faith relationship with God that I do. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26–27)

While I need to remember that “hate” here is a relative term of hostility describing how faith puts believers at enmity with those who are resisting God, it is also a real separation in many parts of the world. Some new Christians must flee their families because at best they will be considered as ‘dead’ and at worst, their family members will make death a literally truth.

As for being called by God and not knowing where I am going, faith responds because I know who is calling me. Faith isn’t about intellect and reason. It is knowledge of a Person, and trusting that Person to take me the best way, the surest way.

However, Chambers says that one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is going to lead me to “success.” The Bible says that He is working in my life to make me like His Son. This is a great success, yet not the prominence in His kingdom as I first supposed. I could be like Jesus in some way as a leader, or teacher, or in some position of service in the church. But I can also be like Jesus in my home, around the table with my family and other guests, shopping at the mall, or driving on the freeway. In the mind of God, that is success.

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. (Joshua 1:8)

This word appears only once in the Bible. It means to thrive, to be wise, having understanding. There is nothing to suggest it means what most of the modern word thinks it means.

The goal of faith is Christ-like character in all of life. The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. It is not a question of sanctification; but of something infinitely beyond sanctification. It is faith that has been tried and proved and has stood the test.

Faith is believing God no matter what, and trusting Him to take me wherever He wants me to go, on rocky roads or smooth, into light or into shadows, with friends or alone, with a bit of glory or with no applause at all.

Failure is not the end…

Faith is easy when God answers prayer, when life is going as I hoped, when I can see His purposes being fulfilled. Yet if my life is to be like the life of Christ, I will experience failure.

Consider that Jesus’ brothers did not believe and mocked Him. Remember those times when He did no miracles because faith was absent. Don’t forget that in the end, the crowd that had cried Hosanna turned against Him and cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Then all the disciples left him and fled (Matthew 26:56). He was lied about in the judgment hall then mocked as the soldiers stripped Him of His clothes. Innocent and voluntarily helpless, He suffered the worst death known to man, and was buried in a borrowed tomb.

By human standards, the life of Christ was a misadventure and a failure. Isn’t much of our lives like that? Any success, and least measured by human standards, is a rare exception rather than the rule of life. We might hear about magnificent projects and brilliant hopes, but in the big picture, almost all fall into eventual ruin. Individuals who “succeed” eventually grow old and unable to perform. Business ventures encounter downturns and changes, mergers and crashes. Failure is inevitable.

I once read a book with the catchy title, “Failure, the Back Door to Success.” It was about learning from mistakes, but also defined success more like a spiritual discipline and failure as a test of faith. This makes me remember those times of enthusiasm in my heart that disappeared when I failed. Did my faith desert me too? When something goes wrong instead of right, do I feel like God has left me alone? Am I discouraged and ready to quit?

Today’s devotional writer suggests that when “failure” happens, I am appropriating half of Christ’s experience, that sense of failure, but not appropriating the other and more essential half, the persistence of faith. Because Christ lives in my, I have the power to defy failure, a power that can do this because this power is from God and is not my own.

Again, the life of Christ seemed a stunning failure, but it was followed by the most stunning victory that the universe has ever seen. What happened at the Cross is the example of all examples. Whatever God plans cannot fail. His proposals are firm, eternal, guaranteed. Regardless of any opposition, the things that are godly, honest, lovely, pure, and truthful have a vitality that cannot be destroyed or subdued.

What looks like failure in the life of a person of faith is only a triumph deferred. The energy and time spent in prayer and Christian service may not yield immediate fruits but whatever seed is sown is never lost. God promises to use it, and He keeps His promises. All may appear lost as it did at the Cross, but Good Friday was not the end…

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10–11)

I think about seeds sown in lives that seem hard and barren at the moment. God says that seed will sprout and grow. I may not live to see it, even die with my life seeming to have been a failure, but the work done in faith cannot perish. The work of Jesus Christ has transformed millions of lives and changed the world. His work brought the kingdom of God into this dark place and left us with this great promise,

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. (1 John 5:4)

I’m encouraged by this Word. Success is more about trusting God than it is about results or answers to prayer. Those who determine to put their faith in Him and do whatever He asks, are successful people. Our reward is going to be incredible, far surpassing anything we could ever expect or imagine.

Understanding Success

Only one verse in the Bible uses the word “success.” It is near the beginning 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. (Joshua 1:8)

I’ve often read that verse and interpreted it the same way everyone would; prosperity and success are about the good life. However, as much as God wants to bless His people in all ways, I’m thinking success in His value system is not the same as most might think.

My devotional reading today starts off with this paragraph. “American society is breeding a generation of Christians who primarily want to be successful. Seldom do they have a humble attitude of service. They are unwilling to make sacrifices for the cause of Christ because they have been taught, whether verbally or not, that Christians should be rich, famous, successful, and popular.”

The Christian leaders that appear on television or have mega-churches are prominent, well-dressed, have nice homes and cars, and are well paid. In the eyes of the world, they appear to be “in it for the money” even if they are not. I know one pastor who fits that description, yet he is a humble man, not at all concerned with the things of this life. God has blessed him with material prosperity, but he has been far more successful in the things that are high in God’s value system.

In the mind of God, success is whatever advances His kingdom. For individual believers, success is becoming like Jesus. That might seem glamorous, yet Jesus poured out His life to serve others and to secure salvation for sinners. The Bible is filled with commands to God’s people about sacrificial service and this is not about being rich, famous, popular, or enjoying the good life associated with the word “success.”

Paul knew what it meant. He said, “Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me” (Philippians 2:17-18).

When I read this, I thought of the times that serving God has worn me out, but I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself, just glad that I could do what He had asked. The downer is that too many times other Christians have felt sorry for me, for my fatigue. They suggested that I “don’t work so hard” or that I take care of myself. As Paul said, I wanted them to be glad with me that I’d been given the opportunity to serve the Lord, to be poured out for the sake of others, not to worry about me.

In the mind of God, the “good life” might be a fringe benefit, but it also could be a liability and distract me from what is eternal. Instead, success is laying aside concern for myself and pouring my energies into serving Him.