What Leads To Success?

About a year ago I ran across this video on the internet.  It is from a group called TED.  The video is about 3 1/2 minutes.  Take a look and then I'll tell you where I am going with this.

When I watched this video I thought to myself "Self, I'll bet there is a Biblical basis for this".  I thought wouldn't it be fun to do a little research in the Bible and see if that is true?  Well I just finished the New Testament for the second time this year so I thought I would take on this project. 

I wasn't really sure how to proceed at first but I thought what I would do is start by looking up the word in the Bible and see what the Bible says about that word.  I started with Passion.

Well what I found was that the word passion appears in the Bible 3 times but each of the three times passion is used it is in the context of sex.  Not really what I was looking for.  Where to go from here?

I went to the internet and looked up synonyms for passion.  Now there were many but I sorted through them to find the ones that pertained to passion in the context of contributing to success.

Here are some of the words.  Zeal, fervor, fire, and enthusiasm.  Zeal gave me the most of what I was looking for.  Here are some Scriptures that support the Biblical basis for needing passion as part of your success formula. 

First let me offer four verses that show that passion or zeal in this case are part of God's nature. 

Isaiah 9:7

Of the increase of His government and peace

    There will be no end,

    Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

    To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

    From that time forward, even forever.

    The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 37:32

 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,

    And those who escape from Mount Zion.

    The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 42:13

The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;

    He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war.

    He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud;

    He shall prevail against His enemies

Zechariah 8:2

‘I am zealous for Zion with great zeal;

    With great fervor I am zealous for her.’

God is a very passionate or zealous God.  He gets worked up about the things He believes strongly in.  Why is this important?  Well we are told that we are made in the image of God so I think it is important to make sure that these words are evident in God's character. 

Now here are a couple of examples of God's appreciation for zeal in others.

Numbers 25:10-11

10Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 11“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.

II Kings 10:15-17

15Now when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab, coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is toward your heart?”

And Jehonadab answered, “It is.”

Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16Then he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” So they had him ride in his chariot. 17And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.

Those that God seems to favor and listen to are those who are zealous for Him.  Now might be a good time to look at what you do for God and ask yourself if it rises to the level of zealous or not.  If not then maybe it is time to kick it up a notch.  I know I feel like I could do more.

Proverbs 2:4(NKJV)

4    If you seek her as silver,     And search for her as for hidden treasures;

This last verse I'm going to through in with an explanation.  Proverbs is talking about seeking knowledge.  We are told that we should seek knowledge as if we are seeking hidden treasure.  Have you ever read about any of the great treasure hunters?  There are single minded and focused.  They are passionate about what they are searching for.  Shouldn't we be that passionate about our goals as well?

That brings us to the last question.  What are you searching for?  In this case I am referring to how do you define success in the material world.  What are you passionate about.  As I've written in the past, one of my reasons for writing this blog is to share what I call everyday practical Christianity.

Here is an example.  Define what it is that you are looking for.  What does success look like to you?  Now the first question to ask yourself is, am I passionate about my goal?  If not then you now know where to start!