The success formula

Having read many anecdotes of successful men and women in areas such as sport and business, I believe it’s our ‘failures’ that define us, not our successes. Success isn’t simply about winning personal victories. When we read the gospel, it’s not simply about ‘receiving life’. It’s about ‘life out of death’. When we join the dying of our Lord Jesus, God makes us alive together with Him. This is the essential tenet of any ‘success formula’.

When we observe the nature of life, the evidence of death is all around us. Every person, whether Christian or not, is subject to mortality. And for this reason, we don’t find the life of Christ until we learn the principle of the seed. Paul wrote, ‘That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies’. 1 Cor 15:36. A seed must fall into the ground to die, otherwise it abides alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. This principle is firmly impregnated in the fabric of the Scriptures.

With this in view, how do we cope with failure? When we face affliction, our core attitudes will soon spring to the surface. This shows the nature and condition of our hearts, revealing attitudes and responses that need to change. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, ‘A good day never taught you anything’. If we embrace affliction, it’ll enhance our capacity for life and stimulate our abilities. It enlivens us. Our failures certainly have the potential to define us. However, we need to learn from them, as opposed to resisting or avoiding them. When we’re in a tight spot, we need to show courage by warring against our innate responses and emotions.

In times of distress, is our first response to listen for the Lord’s voice or to default to our instincts? Deut 4:30. James 3:15. It’s reassuring to know that God does remember us when we live by faith in the midst of our trials. Paul wrote that affliction produces perseverance, and perseverance produces ‘proof’. Rom 5:3. Affliction proves and substantiates who we are as people. What we emerge to be from affliction is who we are. It’s what we retain. It may seem that it subtracts from us. We emerge as less than we were. That’s the evidence of death. However, if we persevere in the affliction, then the Spirit of Christ rests upon us. We’re changed from one degree of glory to another. As Christians, we’re not just alive, but alive from the dead. God makes us alive together with Christ.  In the words of Nehemiah, ‘The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise’. Neh 2:20.

This is the contradiction of the gospel. The Lord’s always taking something to nothing before He’s bringing something from nothing! Death always comes before life. Paul said, ‘So then death works in us but life in you’. 2 Cor 4:12. That’s the success formula 

Sue Falk

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Feature Articles
September 2008

Searching out a man

The new birth

Signs of the times

The national anthem

Overcoming fear & anxiety

Anointed with oil

Compassion that restores

The success formula

Desire to be known

At ease in your youth

The mother of all wars