How God Defines a Woman’s Success

How do you define success? Is it by your bank account? The neighborhood you live in, or the kind of car you drive? Maybe it is determined by your occupation. If we take the time to learn what the bible says, we may gain a whole new perspective on the concept of success. Every day our lives are filled with stress and activities dictated by the circumstances of our lives. We are sleep

deprived as we wake far too early in order to organize our daily schedules. Waking children and readying them for school, then off to a full time job juggling time for domestic chores and errands. Finally home after a full day of work we prepare dinner, see to children’s activies, and finally bedtime routines. Then perhaps we have an hour or two to prepare for tomorrows schedule. The day is over. All this in order to bring home a paycheck to pay the bills and hopefully have enough left over for some recreational activies or to acquire the symbols of success; The beautiful home, the BMW in the driveway, private dance lessons for the kids, or the pool in the backyard.

Perhaps we define success as recognition. Recognition can be selfish, prideful, and boastful. Without God we can do

nothing and are nothing. I am not suggesting that it is wrong to be confident, but our confidence needs to come from Christ, not self. We are told in Proverbs 18:12″Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.” We cannot be prideful and successful. Likewise Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us about boasting, “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things.”

I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with aspiring to a specific lifestyle or enjoy being recognized for our work or achievements in our jobs. But if we use them as a measure or our success then perhaps we are confused by societies idea of success and that of the bible.

The bible says in Joshua 1:8, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from you mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Therefore the path to success is to meditate on the word. The better we know God’s word, the easier it is to do his will. Doing his will will always bring success. God wants to give us the desires of our heart. We know this by reading Psalms 37:4 tells us, “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” David tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” God is our biggest cheerleader. He knows what we need and just as we want to shower our own children with gifts of love and praise, He wants to do the same for us. This life is like a puff of smoke and then it is gone. True success is eternal life. and we can only live eternally through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. John 3:16 states it best, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

This life is simply preparation for eternity. James 4:14 tells us, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Shouldn’t we be focusing on our success for our eternal life? To find peace in this life we need to look no further than Philippians 4:9-10 which tells us, “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me – everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the peace of God will be with you.”

In Jesus’ name,

Lynn

Lynn Kennedy
Associate Publisher
Director of Women’s Ministry
Christian Times Online
http://www.ChristianTimesOnline.com

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