The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Good Success"
"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Joshua 1:8).
The word "success" appears only once in the Bible, which records the Lord's mandate to Joshua that he adhere to God's law in heart, mind, and action. All born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ must define success accordingly. In context of our relationship with God, this involves "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).
The world, of course, defines success in countless other ways. Material gain, status, power, accomplishment, and happiness based on circumstance all define the matter for those whose only hope involves the quest to "have their portion in this life" (Psalm 19:17). Of course, the fleeting nature of such a quest means that success, as the world terms it, will all too soon be discovered as "even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). Little wonder the Lord Jesus Christ stridently warned, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27).
"This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (I John 5:11).
The born again believer already possesses eternal life in the most fundamental meaning of the blessed and abiding reality. This "law" of Christ's indwelling and pervasive presence within our spirits must be meditated upon day and night. We remember and affirm as the day begins that we do not live life by ourselves. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus dwells and will walk in us (II Corinthians 6:16). Throughout the day, opportunities for praise, thanksgiving, trust, request, intercession, and acknowledgement of God's presence and involvement will offer conscious awareness of "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." As the day closes, whatever it may have held, we can look back with assurance of Who held it. This will be "good success" in the eyes of God, and we must join Him in viewing life according to the only mode and measure that matters: "to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).
Of course, we are all far from perfect in this quest for the only "good success" that actually exists. We ever begin from where we are in seeking to live today in the light of forever. Indeed, whatever characterized our yesterdays regarding our Lord's calling to "seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," He offers the grace of living this day in the light of truth and reality (Matthew 6:33). "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in Heaven above, and upon the earth beneath" (Deuteronomy 4:39). Such knowledge, consideration, and the fruits thereof define the success that alone bears true meaning in this life, and forevermore. There is none else.
"We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
(II Corinthians 4:18)
Weekly Memory Verse
Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16).
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