Do you know the purpose of your success?

"For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hast a favour unto them." Psalm 44:3

"And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth Thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8: 17-18

Why are you good at what you do?

Why do you succeed?

Do you think that you succeed because of your self esteem?

Do you think that you succeed because of that driving force to have a comfortable life?

Do you try to succeed because you have a need to put money away for retirement?

No!

So then why do we succeed?

Do you know that when we succeed it is because God lets us!

Yeah, that right.

You heard correctly.

It has nothing to do with us.

God lets us succeed so that we will make Him known.

You see, our success is not what we do.

Our success is because of Him.

Our success is intended to reflect God and His glory.

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." II Corinthians 4:4-6

Does your success advertise God's goodness?

How do you use your gift for God's sake?

How do you use that talent that you are good at?

Is it to help further the gospel?

Do you bring attention to yourself?

Do you let God's light shine through?

Do you reflect God even through your failures?

What kind of thoughts do you have?

Are they...

Look at me, I'm special.

Look at how well I did.

We made it all happen because of me.

So, what does your character say about you?

Do you lean daily on God?

Do you put Him on a shelf and only use as needed?

Do you take what God has given you for granted?

Has being successful brought amnesia to you?

Do you remember to give God the glory?

Do you give Him the glory even for the little things as well as the big things?

Generally what happens is we get blind sided when we become successful and forget those who helped get us there.

Why is it that we think when we get to where we want to be that we don't appreciate those who helped get us there.

"For who hath despised the day of small things? Zechariah 4:10a

Why is it that we think that we are better off than those who have not made it as far, or have not done what we have already accomplished?

Truth is you have not accomplished anything on your own!

What??

Yep, that's right!

We did not make it on our own.

God had His hand in it all the way.

Why?

Just so that we would give Him the glory!

That's right.

God is the reason that we are as successful as we are!

"The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee." Psalm 145:9-10