Viewing Success God’s Way

I (Jane) just finished reading Charles Stanley’s book Succes God’s Way.

It’s quite an interesting book to go through and Stanley mentions some things that will make you want to ponder over.

What I’ve done in this blog, is summarize the view on success from God’s perspective, as described in Stanley’s book. 

May it bless you and help you understand God’s purpose for you and for this world so that you become more Christlike and confident in your journey of entrepreneurship.

Are you determining success the world’s way?

There’s no one way to define success. For a football coach success will be different than for a student or a homemaker. But there is a common perception that success will give you “a good life”. 

What that good life entails, might be a big house, a nice car, enough money to do fun stuff, and time to take a vacation a couple of times a year. With such a life, it sounds like you’ve made it. You figured it out.

You could say, “Generally speaking, many people define success as “setting a goal and accomplishing it.” according to Stanley.

Goals are focused on self and sometimes people do unethical things to get there.

That’s not how God sees success or wants you to reach it.

Now, that isn’t to say that a godly person should not or cannot experience wealth, power, fame, and status but such things should not determine if you’re successful and they should not be your goals.

What kind of life does God desire for us?

Stanley believes that God desires for us to live a life that is marked by integrity, faithfulness, and obedience to His will. He emphasizes the importance of seeking God's guidance in every aspect of our lives, including our careers and personal relationships.

He says, “God’s approach is: here’s the person I want you to be, here’s what I want you to do, and here’s how to be that type of person and how to do that task It is in being a godly person and then obeying God in His directives that we find success as Christians. Our life as Christians is wrapped up in who we are in Christ Jesus.”

God wants to have a deep relationship with us. He wants us to glorify Him and share His love by doing good for others. Such a life is not about ourselves, it’s about God and honoring Him. It’s a life of servanthood.

How does God define success?

When it comes to serving others, especially in business, it’s hard to avoid setting goals. 

—But it was just said that setting a goal and accomplishing it is not the way God defines success. 

So how do we go about it?
What is God’s definition of success and how do we pursue it?

We have to start by acknowledging that God’s viewpoint does not begin and end with what we do in our lives. It begins with who we are as His children.

The definition Stanley uses in his book to define success is the following:
“Success is the continuing achievement of becoming the person God wants you to be and accomplishing the goals God has helped you set.”

So it is about goals after all?
Yes, and no.
It is, but the starting point is different. 
We’re not operating out of our own desires but out of God’s. God has a plan for your life and asks for your obedience to follow it. If you think about it that way, God sees success in terms of relationship, character, and obedience. 

Applying this to your business

If God called you to entrepreneurship then there’s no doubt that He wants you to succeed. It doesn’t mean, however, that you will hit your targets right from the beginning. God has more eye for your character than for how much revenue you make in your first 5 years of business.

It is more important to develop who you are in the role of an entrepreneur than the number of people you’re helping.
It is more important to run your business with God than to invest in a coach to help you scale your business.

As an entrepreneur, you definitely need to set goals or else it will be hard to build and maintain a business. But those goals need to be set with God, that’s what Stanley encourages readers to do. 

It could be that God wants you to earn $1.000.000 in revenue, only to give a lot of it away or invest it in a project that will benefit not only you but tons of others.

Who knows?
Only God.

The bright side and downside of this view of success

It’s difficult to let go of the worldly definition of success. I often measure success purely based on financial prosperity even though I know better.

The bright side is that not money or status or opinions of others can influence your success. If your heart is truly set on God and you are following His voice, then you are successful in any circumstance—also the ones that others deem unsuccessful. That provides a lot of comfort.

The downside to that, however, is that circumstances can be difficult. There can be months without enough revenue, or your vision is suddenly blurry and you doubt how you run your business. Clients might cancel services or you are forced to shut down a part of the business that you like. 

God can shape our character in comfortable circumstances but in my experience, He rather shapes it in the difficult ones. 
So hardship in business isn’t a sign that you’re unsuccessful, it’s rather a sign that God is working on you becoming more successful in character.

Conclusion

Overall, Stanley's book emphasizes that success is not defined by worldly standards, but by a person's obedience to God and their commitment to fulfilling His plan for their lives. Whatever that may take. Whatever difficulties that may give. 
As long as you are following God in the pursuit of His plan for your life, you are living a successful life.

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