Wealth, education, profession, ministry, health, et cetera, cannot determine success. The way a child of God defines success amuses an unbeliever, but that is the truth. Knowing God, and also being committed to Him, are fundamental to success. Leaning absolutely on Him, he can confess convincingly, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. This is different from what a lady complained to me. “My problem is that I am very short,” she said. What I have never known is the sickness that is the exclusive prerogative of short people. When Mr. Death visits, height is of no consequence to him.
The unbeliever defines success in terms of material possession. This explains why he is always comparing himself with other people, as well as what he has, with what they have. He may see himself poor, believing that they are making it. Some of the people he is envying may be struggling with terminal health challenges, while he is enjoying sound health. He may not know it, so that he will appreciate God. It is sad to meet an erudite academic, a professor in his chosen discipline, complaining that he is a failure in life because he does not have millions of Naira.
It is also strange to see a Minister of God, mourning that he has failed because of his small congregation, compared with the large crowd in some churches. While it is good to desire a large crowd, it is important to know what interests the Owner of the Church really: a large gathering, starved of His Word, or the few people, who are fed properly.
Anyone desirous of success should know how it comes. As a child growing up in the village, I remember Uncle Elias. He came to cohabitate with a widow in my compound and was accepted wholeheartedly as a bona fide citizen, though he was from a different Local Government Area. He had an unusual strength, which enabled him to do the work of two or three people. He died, unfortunately poor, because he sold himself to alcohol. Yes, he was making good money but he was not keeping it. Success does not result from the amount of money one makes but what one saves.
Many people work very hard in their various businesses or professions, yet they may be poor. Some spend quality time in the things they do and some people, who do not make the same sacrifice of time and effort, may excel them. Some people have pumped substantial amount of money into their businesses and are surprised that their colleagues who did not invest half of that amount, may be doing better. Some people have changed their businesses, and were introduced to more lucrative ones, yet, their story remains the same. Some people have been misled by the commercial men of God, that their neighbours or grandparents are responsible for their predicament in their businesses. After making the sacrifices required of them, their story remains the same, if not worse.
Success is from God. He made it clear in His Word that it is He, Who teaches our hand to prosper. Joseph, in the Bible, was the 11th son of Jacob, and his mum died early. He was hated by his brothers because of his wild dreams about his tomorrow. Envy compelled them to sell him. There, as a slave, his mistress tempted him copiously, insisting that he slept with her. He refused, choosing to obey God. In consequence, he was jailed for refusing to compromise his faith. His fate was hopeless, a situation where hard work could not salvage his situation. God, the Almighty, came and rescued and promoted him, making him the Prime Minister of Egypt, next in position and authority after Pharaoh. His brethren, who sold him, came there and bowed before him.
Jacob was born after Esau, his twin brother. God declared that the elder would serve the younger. Jacob and Rachel, his mother, wanted to help God to accomplish that but failed. It forced him rather into exile. His Uncle paid him with his deceptive coin, by forcing him to marry Leah, his first daughter, instead of Rachel, he had laboured for. On his way back fromhis flight to his Uncle who was also his father-in-law, he had an encounter with God that changed his life and future for good. He was rich and the progenitor of our Lord Jesus.
For David, his success was a testimony of the faithfulness of God’s mercy. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not want,” he confessed later, and it was true of his life. Without displaying any prowess, God chose him to replace King Saul. To justify his private anointing as the king, He made him to kill Gen.Goliath, the military guru of Philistine. It lifted him to prominence, becoming the greatest king Israel had. He became the great ancestor of our Lord Jesus, a shepherd boy!
In 1960, I entered the two-year Elementary Teacher Training College of the Methodist College, Uzuakoli. I was excited, during the soccer season, when they announced that first year students, who were soccer players, should come out. I came out with other players. Looking at my height and perhaps age, I was rejected. I accepted it without minding, believing that I was not good enough to play there.
We, the first year students, were paired with the second year students for gardening, which was a part of our training. One day, my senior partner sent me for grasscutting for mulching. I went to a place close to the football field, where I saw the players practising. Not long after, one of them sustained an injury. “Hey you, young man, come here,” a voice roared at me. I went there and was told to stand-in for the injured player. I was thrilled. It was not even our college teams alone that were practising, but the combined teams of our college and the Higher Elementary Training College.
After playing for a few minutes, I was moved from the Second Eleven team, where I was placed, to the First Eleven team. Imagine! During the weekend, as the team was going for a cup match, Anyansi Cup match, at Umuahia, I was placed on reserve. Many of our students were surprised. After the match, I was placed permanently in the First team, and that was a team in which only four of us were chosen from my college and seven others from the Higher Elementary Training College. Playing in the forward wing, there was hardly any match I did not score one or two goals. That was me who was considered unfit because of height and age!
May we then know that our human judgment may fail us most of the time! May we learn that God’s factor does not fail! May we now give everybody a chance without drawing quick conclusions by whatever reason!
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; [email protected]