Success. What does this word actually mean? Maybe a more appropriate question to ask is, what does it mean to you? There’s a plethora of definitions of success and many are arrestingly profound but there’s one by Jelly Wong that most aligns with my understanding of it. It’s not even a definition as such but more of an admonishment: “Life is the most difficult exam. Many people fail because they try to copy others, not realising that everyone has a different question paper.”
We’re all here as individual souls with unique purpose to fulfil. It would amount to foolishness if having just gained employment, I’m instructed to resume at the office in Ikeja on a Monday morning but decide it would be better for me to resume in Ikorodu where the company doesn’t even operate, just because that’s where all my friends work. True success requires you find yourself where God has ordained you to be. True success or as the good book calls it, “good success” is attained when you discover and subsequently fulfil your purpose.
It’s quite unfortunate that in our society now and particularly among the younger generation, success is almost entirely measured by material wealth. This generation’s perception of success appears to be defined by the image’s music videos bombard them with. Scantily covered damsels cavorting over a gleaming Mercedes G-wagon, conspicuously parked in front of a monstrously large mansion, while the Don himself shames the almighty US dollar by spraying it around, as if it’s going out of fashion.
In my opinion, God is not interested in our fame and fortune as they hold no inherent value to him. What does interest Him is that we utilise the gifts, skills, ability and even material resources he has given us for the purpose for which he gave them to us. He wants us to use every platform he has blessed us with, including fame, position, wealth or even the most mundane of occupations to propagate his very essence. This we do by sharing his love, touching lives and influencing the world positively; showing the world what it means to “love thy God and to love thy neighbour as thyself.” Thereby, harmonising our lives with our professed ideals.
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I mentioned in an earlier message that the very fact God used the term ‘good success’ means it isn’t synonymous with success. God picks his words carefully and isn’t superfluous with them either. Success is when we triumph in our plans but ‘good success’, I believe, is when we thrive in God’s plan for our lives. Through this, our soul experiences total satisfaction and a degree of fulfilment previously unknown to it. That is soul prosperity, true prosperity and good success.
It’s quite unfortunate that in our society now and particularly among the younger generation, success is almost entirely measured by material wealth. This generation’s perception of success appears to be defined by the image’s music videos bombard them with. Scantily covered damsels cavorting over a gleaming Mercedes G-wagon, conspicuously parked in front of a monstrously large mansion, while the Don himself shames the almighty US dollar by spraying it around, as if it’s going out of fashion. To many of this generation, anything short of this is not success and so they aspire to it as the ultimate.
This is a notion which desperately needs to be corrected if we want our society to move in the right direction. Materialism has taken dangerously deep root in our society and to uproot this will undoubtedly require us to shift the focus from ourselves to others. A herculean task I admit but necessary nonetheless.
Having said this though, if we’re to give our musical celebrities some credit, success wasn’t by any means attained overnight but is the culmination of often unimaginable commitment, patience and untiring effort. They put in countless hours to hone their talent and many of them get to become genuinely good at what they do; whether you find their genre of music agreeable or not. Our youth see the glamour of the end product and crave it but how many of them can put in the grind? How many can face push back after push back and still move forward with utmost belief in their dream?
I want to assure you that I have no objection whatsoever to someone enjoying the luxuries of life as it’s a beautiful thing for one to be able to enjoy the rewards of his labour. My objection comes when all manner of vices are committed to get them. Not when it’s by hook or by crook, hence the wise counsel and stern caution, “desire without knowledge is not good and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
In my estimation it would be a mistake to measure a person’s success by material possessions and personal accomplishments alone for these in themselves are not the goals of life. God has a unique plan for every one of us but the underlying purpose of each and every plan is for us to be a blessing to others. You can only serve God if you serve others. It’s important our children are made to understand that material wealth is just a by-product of God’s true blessings as it’s a small aspect of the joy, love, creativity, compassion and kindness we were sent to this world to receive and share. Sharing these gifts, to me, is undoubtedly a clear demonstration of a successful life.
Changing the nation…one mind at a time.
