The Key To Success

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did. (Genesis 39:1-3)

The path to success isn’t counted in moments or milestones. That’s why you can’t define success with a dollar sign, a corner office or diploma. Opulence and opportunity may be a consequence of success, yet it’s not the catalyst. Power, position and prosperity are welcome friends, but poor relatives. If you’re not careful, you'll find it's difficult to live with them or, worse, without them.

Joseph had his father’s blessing but it only brought a curse. Ditched by his brothers, left for dead and sold into slavery, he was “taken down” (literally) to Egypt. His colorful, costly coat now replaced with a blue collar shirt and his position as daddy’s favored child now relegated to being a common slave. Joseph went from the sweet suite life to serving supper and cleaning house. Life has it’s twists, doesn’t it?

And yet Joseph resists an entitlement mentality. He seemingly refuses to feel sorry for himself or fall prey to pettiness. Life is what it is and sometimes you have to play the cards you’re dealt. In fact, anyone can win with kings and aces, but real champions turn a handful of deuces, fours and fives into a winner. If God is on your side anything is possible. And that’s the true secret to Joseph’s success. With God, he always has a faithful Father. With God, he has treasures beyond time and place. With God, he has unlimited opportunity. The Lord was with Joseph. Everything he touched turned golden, even if all he was doing was polishing the master’s silver.

If you’ve been “taken down” a notch lately, just look up. Sometimes the reason for your respite is to restore God’s rightful place in your life. Maybe the purpose for the pain, the circumstance or the trial is to prepare you for a coming opportunity beyond anything you could imagine. Sometimes God needs to knock you down before He can lift you up. God may know you can’t rule with Pharoahs until you’ve served with slaves. Therefore, His plan for your life may involve years of pit and prison before you enjoy life as a palace prince.

That's why if you measure success by what you've earned, bought or created you’ll never truly learn to live with have you have. And if all you do is work to make a living you’ll miss the real opportunity to make a life.

After all, life is what it is. And so are you.


NOTABLE QUOTABLES ON SUCCESS:

"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.” (Dale Carnegie)

"Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand." (Bruce Barton)

"When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success." (Orison Swett Marden)

"Success doesn't come to you…you go to it." (Marva Collins)

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." (Vincent T. Lombardi)

"Success is a journey, not a destination." (Ben Sweetland)

Father, we all hunger to be successful. We all seek to make a difference with our lives. This day help me to walk with integrity, speak with purity and work with dignity. Help me to resist the urge to view success by what I have (and don’t have) but rather burn within my soul a desire to simply be faithful—whether I serve as pauper or prince. May my life be remembered as one that found “success” wherever I journeyed because You were “with me” in every step. Amen.