Related articles - The Road to Success
I get a kick out of the TV ads for Lotto Super 7. They give a tongue-in-check picture of what the world of the super rich must look like – spare diamonds in your junk drawer, people to do all your undesirable chores, useless expensive ornaments, recipes for how to boil water or make toast (because rich people apparently don’t cook!) The idea is that when you win the ten million dollars, you will be not only too rich to spend all your money, but also instantly fulfilled, healthy and happy!
Too often, we equate a successful life with having a lot of money. God, our creator, relates success to what we might call wholeness. He’s not in the Game Show or the Lotto business where a big win promises a changed life forever; rather, He gives us a road map to wholeness. The road will have some frightening curves, as many ups and downs as a roller coaster and many surprises along the way, but true success – emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, relational and financial, is discovered serendipitously while on the journey.
I find it interesting that the etymology of the word holy carries the same idea of our modern word success. The Anglo-Saxon root of holy is hal, which means whole. Not only the word whole comes from hal, but so do the words; hail (“he’s hail and hearty”) hello, heal, healthy and happy. In God’s eyes, a holy person is whole, healthy and happy. That’s a lot different than how we sometimes picture someone who is holy. The very word conjures up images of a pale, dour expression, sad, lifeless eyes, emotionless demeanour, a life of sacrificial poverty and certainly an unlikely person to be invited to your next birthday party!
Last week, I said that the pathway to success, or wholeness is found in the stories and teachings of the Bible. Adherence to its principles has God’s guarantee of a successful life.
Over the weeks to come, I’ll write about some of the principles that the Bible gives us for success (wholeness) in every dimension of our life. But before we do that, we need to understand a couple of basics. One is that God wants each of us to enjoy success. Some people have the idea that God is like a mean–spirited traffic cop hiding behind a bush just itching for someone to exceed the speed limit by a couple of kilometres so that he can make his day by giving him a ticket!
I love what my neighbour said to me after reading my book, Life Journey. She was raised in a different religion than Christianity and grew up with an image of a vindictive, angry God. She told me, “I love the way you describe your God – he’s so much kinder than my God!”
God wants us to be successful and has given each of us all the tools necessary, but the second foundational truth is that it is our responsibility to understand and follow His plan for our optimum future. Wholeness doesn’t come like winning the lottery; rather, it is the destiny of every person who will choose to walk the path that God has clearly mapped out for us!
