The Path to Success
There are many definitions for success in today’s culture. For some, success is defined by the number of accomplishments we’ve made, or the number of possessions we’ve attained.
Jesus’ definition of success is counter-cultural. It has nothing to do with our accomplishments or our possessions—it has everything to do with our character.
Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16:10 is primarily about the content of our character. He says that those who are trusted with small things will be entrusted to larger things. Those who are faithful with what they’ve been given will be given the opportunity to be faithful over more. And those who are dishonest, unfaithful, and untrustworthy, will do the same with what they’re given.
It’s not ultimately important to Jesus whether we are financially successful in life. What’s more important is what we do with what we’ve already been given.
Little acts of faithfulness every day is how our character is shaped over time. The small decisions and the hard decisions are what create us into people of trust and honesty.
If you’re asking God for more in life, make sure that you’re being faithful with the things He has already given you. Use the resources and opportunities you have to build trust and honesty with other people.
God is looking to use people of character. Pray for God to increase your character and to give you the opportunities to become a person who is faithful and honest in every area of life.
Don’t Lose Heart
As we start getting older, our bodies begin to change.
Muscles might ache. Hair might gradually turn gray. Vision and hearing might eventually get less sharp. And we, or someone we love, might even struggle with significant or devastating health challenges.
The apostle Paul once offered some ageless wisdom to the believers in Corinth, Greece, which can still be helpful for us today:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
Paul knew what it was like to face hard things; he’d been beaten, shipwrecked, snake bitten, and imprisoned.
Earlier in the letter, he’d said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV)
The ripple effects of sin’s existence in the world might frustrate us physically, but it ...