THE SUCCESS-MINDED CHRISTIAN Part 3

 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9

“Building a better you is the first step to building a better America.” – Zig Ziglar

Success-Minded Christians have a mission.  To make the world a better place to live for us, our children and our children’s children.  We believe that by living right, doing what is right, just and good will help society as a whole to be better, or at least as Thomas Carlyle said, “Make yourself an honest man, and you may be sure that there is one less rascal in the world.”  For each person who lives by the principals of the Success-Minded Person, there is one less who is corrupting society.

There is a misconception about Christians that people have.  They think that Christianity is a bunch of rules of what you cannot do if you want to make it to heaven.  Here is the big news, there are no rules.  There is one way to make it to heaven and it is not based on how good you are.  It is by accepting Jesus Christ, God’s only Son as your personal Lord and Savior.  You believe He died for your sins on the cross and rose from the dead to redeem you from this world.  That is it.  Faith in Christ is the only way into heaven.  Your good works will not do it, no matter how good they are.

So why then do the principals of the Success-Minded Person focus so much on doing what is right?  If your good works mean nothing in the view of salvation, why work so hard at it?  Because doing right is the right thing to do.  It is how we improve our self and the world we live in.  Martin Luther said, “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works.”  Author, John Stott said, “Good works are indispensable to salvation – not as its ground or means, however, but as its consequence and evidence.”  Caring about living right and doing right is just who the Success-Minded Person is.

“Well then”, you may say “you do have a lot of rules to follow and things you cannot do.”  That is a yes and no answer.  First, the “no” part.  If you think that we do what is good because we are working at our salvation or trying to win the favor of God you are wrong.  All Success-Minded Christians know they are sinners who deserve to be tossed into hell.  There is nothing we can do to earn salvation.  If that was the case there would be no sense in trying.  There would be no hope.  But salvation is a gift from God, free and totally ours.  It is because we cannot earn it that we needed a Savior in the first place.

Do not be under the misguided idea that as a Christian you have so much you cannot do.  For one, we live right because we choose to not because we are forced to (more on this in a moment).  Second, as a Christian I am free to do whatever I wish.  That is right.  The Apostle Paul tells us in the letter to the Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into a opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”  And if you read the 14^th chapter of Romans you will see there too we are given freedom to do anything.  The important fact is that with freedom comes responsibility.  The person who thinks they can do whatever they want and not have to deal with the consequences is only fooling them self.  Freedom means making choices.  Choices between what is good for all and what is selfish and harmful.

This brings us to the “yes” side of our question.  Yes we have rules to follow and things we do not do.  Again, it is not because we cannot get to heaven or we displease God that we cannot do them.  It is because they will only hinder and destroy all we are working for.  Success-Minded People are always looking for how to improve themselves and to make things better.  We understand that our success means the success of others and that our failures will hurt others.  We are in a constant state of growth and personal development.  The great American Statesman, Benjamin Franklin said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

Success-Minded People strive to live right because that offers the doorway to the achievement of their dreams.  You cannot improve yourself without knowingly improving others.  Those people who do whatever they feel if right for them brings selfishness, greed, hurt, crime and immorality into their world.  They think only of themselves and that is always a great danger to the world as a whole.

I am not saying the Success-Minded People are perfect and never does wrong.  I confess that I have not personally achieved that state in my own life.  I cannot tell you of a single person I know who has.  But we do strive for it.  There is a difference between those who knowingly and willingly do wrong – who lie, cheat, steal or are dishonest – and those who make mistakes and with confession and repentance, work to right them again.  Success-Minded People know that they are capable of anything.  They follow Christ as an example and never lose track of the fact that they need a Savoir, they are not a savior.  Evangelist, Charles Spurgeon said, “Beware of no man more than of yourself, we carry our worst enemies within us.”

It boils down to this; there is a right and a wrong in life.  We all know this if we are honest with our self.   All action has consequences.  That which is right, just and moral lead to safety, peace and prosperity.  That which is wrong and selfish leads to crime, destruction and poverty.  All you have to do is look at the world to see that this is true.  Want to make the world a better place?  Make yourself a better person.  You cannot change the person next to you, but you can change you.  As publisher Arnold Glasow said, “Improvement begins with I.”

Success-Minded People cannot look at the world and think they are so small in number compared to those who would live for themselves.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had it right when he said, “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”  If you want to see the world, the country, your neighborhood or your family become the best they can be and to succeed in life, then you blaze the trail.  Start with you and achieving your dreams and living by the principals of a Success-Minded Person.  Be the example that others can follow.  Be the light in the darkness for those who have lost their way.  You possess more power than you think. 

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

© Jack Hickey 2011