What truly is success?

I am so moved and inspired to write this today and I hope you can truly understand my motivation. Today I read a very long story about a man who today is termed a success, this is not the first I have read of various men, coming from the back side of life and today they have made it to the top, and they give us this long story of how they made it.  He said so much on how he struggled through his life, and how now he has attained success. Great story very inspiring but I have an issue and I want you to reason with me, you reading this right now.

 I want to ask a question, what truly is success? I have heard so many definitions, let me let you in on some. Owning a business? Or buying a Lexus jeep? Or owning a mansion of Gold? Or been married to Miss world? Or having kids? Or travelling the world? Is that your definition of success? What does it mean to you? Most of the so called successful men and women, we see today, either die broke or commit suicide, they have broken marriages, and may be have married four or five times. Most of them are unhappy; any success that takes away your peace, joy and love and family from you is not true success. I want to think of success in another angle and I think it’s the most important.

Success is not an achievement, it’s not a one time achievement, oh, I finally bought my dream car, that’s not success. I will again define it in the following way. Success is a journey and not a destination, don’t think of success as a place but see it as a path. Success is a journey you can enjoy one day at a time. Success is a daily thing; you can be successful one day or one decision at a time. “If you can handle today correctly, tomorrow you can take care of yourself”

Success is a decision at a time, you don’t become a success when you get a diploma, you become a success when you decided to go to college, when you get your diploma you get the rewards of success.

The best definition of success I have ever read is the one given by my mentor, John Maxwell, saying, “SUCCESS IS KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE, GROWING TO REACH YOUR MAXIMUM POTENTIAL AND SOWING SEEDS TO BENEFIT OTHERS”

It only starts with discovering your purpose, then growing to reach your maximum potential, but a lot of people stop here and call it success, sorry you are not yet successful according to Gods standard, in fact you are poor. The part that really makes you a success is SOWING SEEDS TO BENEFIT OTHERS, in the first place why would God allow us into so much wealth, so we can buy a car? No! So we can own a house, certainly not its more than that, so we can reach and affect the lives of others.

He told Abraham “I will bless you and make you a blessing” so my conclusion is; your life of success actually starts when you start to sow seeds that will benefit others, you have so much and people around you, are hungry, you are not a success but a failure.

 In Africa the rate of poverty is so high, children are hungry and suffering, people are homeless and live on the streets; a lot of persons have turned to prostitution and crime to survive. But just one man rides a car that costs two million five hundred thousand dollars. One man steals over six billion naira from a state treasury and enriches him and family. Some of the richest men in the world today are recorded to have come from Africa, but still Africa cries to the rest of the world for help.

The next generation needs to get it right, we don’t need to wait for bill gates to come help us, or the United States of America but we have what it takes.

This is my definition of success, giving back to society, helping the less privileged, feeding the hungry, giving homes to the homeless, creating jobs for others.Dont be rich alone, carry others along, help someone else have a life.

James defined true religion James 1:27

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you”