THE SUCCESS-MINDED CHRISTIAN Part 2

 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?  It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” – Matthew 5:13

“God has created me to do Him some definite service, He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.” – John Henry Newman

Success-Minded Christian understands that they were placed in this world to make a difference, not to fill a space.  God has no quota to fill as far as people on the planet.  Each person is here by design and for a deliberate purpose.  We may not fully understand way some are here with disabilities or parts of the world are in deep poverty, but rest assured that every person has a purpose for being here.  For those who are Success-Minded Christians, we know that one of our key purposes is to make a difference.

Pastor and Bible teacher, Vance Havner said, “We are the salt of the earth; mind you, not the sugar.  Our ministry is to truly cleanse and not just to change the taste.”  I believe that one of the best ways to change our culture is to be active in it.  Not compromising our values but in fact living our Christian principals before the world.  To be a light and show those trapped in darkness that there is a better way and that Jesus is the answer they seek.  If we expect that to be done from the pulpit or by those “in ministry” we are both sadly mistaken and unbiblical.

Success-Minded Christians have discovered that the best place to cause change in our culture is in the marketplace.  It is our responsibility to be the example of excellence, productivity and success.  Dr. Billy Graham said, “I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the believer in the marketplace.”  For far too long, Christians have surrendered our place as leaders of the culture.  At one time the church set the standards people lived by, not so today.  The sad part was that they were not taken from us, we gave them away.

The thinking started to creep in the church that we were not to be in the marketplace, that was worldly and not for us.  We forgot that in Jesus’ great prayer for us in John 17 He said, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”  We are not to embrace the values and principles of the world that oppose God’s word, but to set a new and different standard as Jesus Himself did.  We are not to be less, we are to be excellent in all we do and do it to the glory of God.

At a later time I will focus on Success-Minded Christians in the ministry, but for now I want us to think of those in the workplace.  There are more believers in the marketplace than in the pulpit.  And that is how it was meant to be.  Ministry has its divine place and is extremely important, but the lost are in the marketplace, not in the church.  It is there that we must set the example, show the way and be the salt they need.  As theologian, A.W. Tozer said, “It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, but why he does it.”

Success-Minded Christians need to be the hardest workers, most productive, show the highest integrity and greatest leadership of all in the workplace.  Sadly, too often employers do not wish to higher Christians, not because we represent Christ, but because they can be bad workers.  I knew a woman who was fired from three jobs for “witnessing” on the job.  She was proud of this and felt that she was fired because she was a Christian.  She was fired because she was a bad worker.  If you are being paid by a company to perform a task and you are using that time to witness, you are stealing their money.  That is a bad testimony to say the least.

Success-Minded Christians know that there is a time to tell others about your faith.  In fact, if you are such a great worker and have the best attitude in the place, others will ask you what makes you different.  How much better is that than to repel people by not doing your job at all?  Believers need to see that we always, never for a moment separated from, being a witness for Christ.  Not in our words but our life.  Pastor Chuck Swindoll said, “We have become a generation of people who worship our work, who work at our play and who play at our worship.”  Success-Minded Christians must be the example of excellence in all things.  We are to be different than those in the world not less than they are, but different.

Success-Minded Christians also know that work is part of the divine plan of God.  It is not part of the fall as some have said.  Look at Genesis 2:15 and see: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”  That is pre-fall and not a punishment.  Likewise, work today is a blessing and not a punishment to be avoided.  In the John C. Maxwell book, Life @ Work, co-authors, Stephen R. Graves and Thomas G. Addington write: “Work was part of God’s original creation.  Like the family, work is ‘a creation ordinance’ – a potential blessing and a divine assignment.”

Success-Minded Christians see that their careers and their callings are the same.  There purpose is to fulfill the task God has given them, the dreams He has placed in their hearts.  It is not a burden or test, but a blessing that will change them and the world they live in.  God uses us to do His work.  19^th century author George Eliot A.K.A. Mary Ann Evens said, “’tis God gives skill, but not without man’s hand.  He could not make Antonio Stradivarius’s violins without Antonio.”  Likewise, God cannot achieve what He wants to do with you, without you doing it.

As a Success-Minded Christian you should work hard at being the best employee, employer, businessperson, salesperson, artist or entrepreneur you can be.  Set the example for others to follow when it comes to work.  Do what you love and love what you do.  Former publisher of the Washington Post, Katherine Graham said, “To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?”  God has planted the seeds of greatness in you and it is up to you to cultivate them and help them to grow. 

As Paul told the church of the Colossians, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Remember that God is always with you and the world is always watching you.

Note:  All Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible © 1960.

© Jack Hickey 2011