Momentum For Monday, December 4th 2023

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” (Psalm 37:3)

A question that was asked of me recently was, “What is God’s view of success?” God's view of success is weighted differently than ours. He is bigger and His knowledge is above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9), so naturally, we do not always see the perspective that He sees. However, thanks to Scripture and the Holy Spirit in us, we can learn to see as He does as best as possible.

While I do not follow suit with the prosperity gospel, I do not think that there is necessarily anything wrong with wealth or riches. Greed can be seen in any form or tax bracket. However, I would not limit success to be defined by money. Some may have come from extreme poverty and have made quite a life for themselves. Again, there is nothing wrong with that for them, that is a form of success, but it may not be biblical success.

For me, I do not see the word success emphasized in Scripture as much as the word "good" is used. Doing good has become part of the theme of my life after God impressed a verse on me several years ago. It is actually part of a verse. Psalm 37:3a is, "Trust in the Lord and do good," and that has helped to shape my theology of success and purpose in my life.

Micah 6:8 is a verse that comes to mind that helps to paint the picture of success and goodness also. Three good things are listed: do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. By no means do this look like what most consider success, but to me, if I do that, I would consider myself successful.

Another verse from Romans instructs to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). That is a truly difficult thing to do in this life. If someone can do this, I would be hard-pressed to not consider that success.

So maybe, success is not the word we need to use? Maybe we need to think about goodness. What good can be done? What good has been done? That parallels success in my eyes.

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Micah 6:8