Christian Living

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As I was growing up and well into my adult life, I was unable to reconcile success with spirituality. This was true for several reasons. One, most Christians had a distorted view of success. Two, they were so narrow minded about spirituality that they shied away from anyone reading so-called "secular" books on the subject. I put the word "secular" in quotation marks because of the many principles taught in these books, some are right out of the Bible. Three, there was obviously a misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches regarding success and how it relates to spirituality, if it even does. Four, many Christians had the mistaken idea that to be success-minded meant compromising his or her spiritual committment to Christ.

Becoming successful is not encouraged in churches. I believe there is an underlying current of thought in the Christian world that tells us that if we truly desire to "walk with God", then we are not going to desire to "reach for the stars" of unlimited opportunities and human potential. We are taught that "the love of money is the root of all evil." Well, one cannot argue with that because it is a direct quote from Scripture, but it is how one defines the word "love" that makes the difference. Guess what, the LACK of money can also be the root of evil.

It is, indeed ironic, that many Christian leaders and pastors today, do not encourage people to make a lot of money, yet at the same time plead for money for this, and that, and everything else, and their own churches are not meeting their budget. Why don't churches and Christian leaders encourage people, instead, to become successful and then use that success to honor God? I am not talking about prosperity theology here. There is a huge difference between prosperity theology and simply following success principles.

Satan (if one believes in a literal devil) wants to keep Christians broke because he knows that it requires money to do the Lord's work. He knows that money problems are a major source of distraction from being focused on the things that really matter in life.

One of the mental breakthroughs I had several years ago was the realization that spirituality and success, as defined by money and wealth, really have nothing to do with each other. I can hear some of you gasping at that statement, but before you disown me, consider the following factors:

1) If this were true then all godless people would be broke, and all spiritually-minded individuals would be doing well.
2) It is not how much blessing you have that determines how spiritual you are; it is determined by how you use what you do have to honor God.
3) If you follow success principles and avoid the pitfalls which keep a person from becoming successful, you will experience success, no matter how spiritual or godless you are. Let's look at some examples:

*Someone says he or she is a committed Christian but has several credit cards to the limit. Is that person experiencing financial blessing? Probably not.

*A person is giving money to the Lord's work but has a minimum wage job with a family to support. They are most likely not experiencing financial freedom.

*A person attends church every week, goes to Bible studies, leads a small group, but his or her life may not be going anywhere because of no goals to follow God-given passions and dreams. Is that person successful? Maybe. Maybe not. He or she could be living a settle-for-less life instead of seeking and believing for God's best.

Too many Christians, I believe, have been fed a false belief that if they follow God, seek His will, and do things pleasing to Him, that God will make them successful. That is simply not the case. A person must still follow success principles combined with pursuing God's best. There are many spiritually-minded Christians that are living in ditches and pits of emotional distress, financial difficulties, and not experiencing success, no matter how one might define the word.

(The above article is an excerpt from a book I am writing, which I plan to have out in 2012.)

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