The “Secret” of Success

Eastford Baptist Church
March 1, 2007

“Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.” (2 Chronicles 26:3-5)

Many people want to be successful, but they don’t have a clue about what real success is or how to achieve it. We’ve all heard the adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Personally, I prefer a different version; “If at first you don’t succeed ... stay away from skydiving.” There is no end of people who have advice on the subject of success. Here are a few of the more interesting quotes I found on the topic: “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill. “I don’t know the secret of success; but the secret of failure is trying to please everybody.” – Bill Cosby. And then there’s the great philosopher, Erma Bombeck who observes, “Don’t confuse fame with success; Madonna is one. Helen Keller is the other.”
The latest addition to this never ending stream of advice on success is a new book by author Rhonda Byrnes called “The Secret.” In her book Byrnes puts a new spin on the old “name-it-and-claim-it” philosophy. She claims to have discovered a secret, (which she is willing to reveal for the modest price of $29.95) shared by all the great people of history, which is guaranteed to bring success your way. Utilizing what she calls “the law of attraction” you will ostensibly be taught to tap into a reservoir of positive energy that surrounds us all to get whatever your heart desires. All you need to do is “think it” and it’s yours. Your positive thoughts about your desire will supposedly attract it into your reality. For example, here’s an excerpt from her book on the proper way to loose weight: “To put it in the most basic terms, if someone is overweight, it came from thinking “fat thoughts,” whether that person was aware of it or not. A person cannot think “thin thoughts” and be fat. It completely defies the law of attraction.” “ The most common thought that people hold, and I held it too, is that food was responsible for my weight gain. That is a belief that does not serve you, and in my mind now it is complete balderdash! Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight. Remember, thoughts are primary cause of everything, and the rest is effects from those thoughts. Think perfect thoughts and the result must be perfect weight.” Now isn’t it good to know that we can eat all the chocolate cake and greasy food we want, as long as we are thinking “thin thoughts” while we are eating? All we need to do is eliminate “fat thoughts,” not “fat foods.” This is going to be a major disappointment to the diet industry! But my guess is there’s a “fat chance” of it actually working.
Now what’s sad about this is the book is flying off the bookstore shelves as fast as they are put out. No matter how ridiculous the concepts, people are so hungry for success formulas they are more than willing to abandon rational thought to chase after the latest fad. So perhaps it’s time to see what the Bible says about the secret to a successful life.
First, put your wallet back into your trousers – you won’t have to dish out any money for this secret. Second, open up your Bible and start reading. God never meant successful living to be a secret. In the passage above we are introduced to a young King by the name of Uzziah. Uzziah is 16 years old when he is called to rule over a nation. Talk about being overwhelmed! When you’re 16 and in charge of a nation, you’re not under any delusions that you’ve got it together or that you’ve got all the answers. You’re in a place where you are going to have to seek God’s help. And that’s exactly what young King Uzziah does. He determines that if he is going to be successful it will only come about as he seeks help from the Lord. In doing so he is expressing his total trust and dependence upon God. As a result God places His hand of blessing upon Uzziah. And Uzziah is blessed with a prosperous 52 year reign over the nation.
Now what I want us to notice is that it is in the pursuit of God, that God brings success upon Uzziah. “As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.” That’s the secret! Uzziah was blessed, not because he had his act together or because he followed a particular leadership formula. (the 7 steps to successful living, or the 6 principles for modern prosperity) He was blessed because he lived in pursuit of God. He was blessed because he was pointing his own heart and the heart of his people towards seeking after God. In fact I think it’s fair to say Uzziah didn’t even seek success & prosperity. He sought God. Success was the by-product of the pursuit. Uzziah demonstrates that he understood what real success is. Success is not the accumulation of earthly wealth. How many people spend their life pursuing earthly wealth and still live miserable lives? Success is finding and following God’s will for your life!
It’s really not a secret – God blesses the seeker. Psalm 34:8-10 puts it this way: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” Regardless of what is happening in your life at this moment. The moment you begin to seek God, you will begin to experience His blessing in your life.

May the Lord grant you His kind of success as you pursue His presence,
PT