Let’s begin with some questions. What is success? What do your friends think success is, and do you agree with them? Is it popularity? Is it having a lot of money and things? Is it having a good marriage and/or kids that love the Lord? What about living a long life with good health? Is it having influence where people value what you say and think?
I don’t see anything wrong with any of these things within themselves. I don’t mind anyone being popular if it doesn’t change a good character into bad character. If you have a lot of money and use it for the Lord’s work and the spreading of the gospel, wonderful. I pray every single day for our families, and especially for families with children being raised in the “world upside down, right is wrong, and two plus two is five society” that they are immersed in, that they will be shielded and successful.
I want the blessings of God on God’s people, but is all that materialism actually success? It can be, but it could also be a curse. Let me tell you a story about some men that had everything the world calls success and how they ended.
In 1923, nine of the world’s most successful financiers met at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. Charles Schwab, president of the largest steel company in the world, was there. Samuel Insull, president of the largest electric utility; Howard Hopson, president of the largest gas company; Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator of that era; Richard Whitney, then president of the New York Stock Exchange; Albert Fall, the Secretary of the Interior in President Warren G. Harding’s cabinet; Jesse Livermore, the fabled “bear” of Wall Street; Ivar Kreuger, head of the world’s greatest monopoly; and Leon Fraser, president of the Bank of International Settlements.
It has been claimed that collectively these men represented more financial power than the Federal Reserve Bank did at that time. Few would deny that they were among the most financially successful men of the era. But were they truly successful? All that depends on your definition of the word. I don’t know a single thing about any of them that says “spiritual” or “godly.” For the Christian, our success is measured by a different scale.
Contrast that with a man that had more money than all of them. His name was John D. Rockefeller. I love reading about him. One of the great stories about John D. Rockefeller is in a book called The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom. He tells of John D. being asked what he was most proud of. To paraphrase his response: “First, I trusted Christ as a teenager, and second, the woman I married.” His priority wasn’t building Standard Oil. John D. said, “The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money.”
Fast forward 25 years. What happed to those nine men that had met in Chicago in 1923? Charles Schwab was forced into bankruptcy, living the last five years of his life on borrowed money. Samuel Insull died in a foreign land on the run from the law, a fugitive from justice and broke. Howard Hopson was in an insane asylum. Arthur Cutten became insolvent and died abroad. Richard Whitney had just been released from Sing Sing Prison. Albert Fall had been pardoned from prison so he could die at home, penniless. Jesse Livermore, Ivar Kreuger, and Leon Frazer had all committed suicide. Is that success by God’s standard? I don’t think so.
In my early Christian life, I was blessed to listen to and be taught by some successful men of God. Many were or had been, pastors or professors in the work and ways of the Lord, with long track records. Some of these men led congregations ranging from tens of people to thousands of people. Their influence over the years was adhered to because of their consistency and stability. If you want to grow corn, you don’t find someone who just talks about it. You find a farmer with a silo full of corn. If I want a solid family, I look at someone that produced one and listen to their advice. It was who these men were, and not just what they did, that gave me guidance. Remember this: “Everybody wants to have but few want to be.” Most folks want to have stuff but aren’t interested in being the kind of man or women God wants them to be. True success begins with being!
I John 2:15-17 is a wonderful road map for the child of God. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
Let me share three quick thoughts to help you “be.”
1. The World has a King – Satan! (v. 15)
Always know that Satan is the god of this world. He wrested the scepter from Adam, and he walks about seeking whom he may devour. The devil wants nothing good for you and will lie, lie, and lie some more, seeking to stop you from being what you should be and instead causing you to desire what the lost seek with all their hearts. He’s the father of lies, according to Jesus’ own words in John 8:44. He is a master manipulator that can transform himself into an angel of light. What you may think is from God could very well be from Satan, as he desires to trap you in one of his devices.
2. The World has Trinkets that are Shiney (v.16)
The devil has three lures he uses to hook people, including the people of God. He uses lusts, our carnal desires, as bait to get us to lose or change our priorities. Lust of the flesh would include the desires of our bodies that push us toward physical pleasures instead of God’s will. The lust of the eyes is the things we see and then begin to covet, longing for them to be ours. The pride of life is the attitude “I deserve this, I’m special.” It’s an attitude of self-sufficiency, a desire for status and recognition, looking for an advantage because “I’m better than …” There are new trinkets placed in front of us every single day. Every one of them screams at us to “have” instead of “being.”
3. The Lord had Eternal Success (v. 17)
In 1923, nine men, living the dream; but the dream they lived was a pipe dream. Their dreams ended in smoke, evaporating before their very eyes. The world will pass away. The lusts of our hearts will pass away when we die, but “he that doeth the will of God, abideth (lives) forever.” Walking with the Lord, “being” what He wants, “being” the biblical Christian may not give you the ease you would choose, but it does give you something the world knows nothing about: peace with God and the blessings of God. The Lord promises to meet our needs, not our wants, but sometimes He blesses His children with material things in abundance. If that happens, make sure not to let it change you from “being” to just “having.” You will be the poorer for that change.

Pastor Tom

P.S. The story of the nine men from 1923 was taken from a little book by William “Bill” Monroe, and written over 40 years ago. Dr. Monroe is a mentor of mine that I have loved and prayed for the past 50 years. He is still living and still pastors a great church in Florence, SC., the Florence Baptist Temple.