Are You Ready Turn Your Life Upside Down to Get Life Right Side Up?

He was born in one of the poorest areas of the country.  He did not go to college.  He was a blue collar guy, working a blue collar job.  His family thought he was crazy, and so did many who knew him.  He died a death reserved for the worst of criminals.  He did not have a home or a job. 

This is the absolute reverse of the American Dream.  This guy was a failure, right?

Yet: He turned the world upside down.  Thousands of years later, He lives and has a following around the globe.
His name?  Jesus of Nazareth.

If we who call ourselves Christians want to be "successful," we need to ask ourselves what that means.  Success, as defined by the Bible, is built upon a foundation of faithful surrender and service to God.  And that is where the rub is: as a Christian who is interested in success.  Too often, I have my plans, my spreadsheet, with my 5, 10, and 15 year goals, with my dreamboard of the perfect house, the full bank account, the two perfect kids, perfect wife, living in the burbs.  Yet, if I truly give my life over to Jesus Christ, all that could be turned upside down!

As Christians, we believe that Jesus is who He said he was: the Son of God.  He was God come in the flesh, to live and live among humanity, to experience life as a human, and to die as the perfect sacrifice for the redemption of all of humankind.

When I reflect on the King of Glory, my Creator, shrinking himself down to become a baby to the poorest of the poor, being born in a manger, and living among some of the most unknown people in Israel (Galilee and Nazareth, in His time, were not the most popular sites for the 'rich' and 'successful', it makes me wonder what are the factors leading to success as one of His followers?

In my reading and understanding of the Bible, there are two key success factors that mark a "successful" Christian.

The first Christian success factor is SURRENDER.  Surrender is actually a term used in Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve step circles.  What it refers to is the fact that each of us needs to, at some point in her or his life, come to the realization that we need to hand it all over.  We need to release control of our expectations, our ambitions, our desires.  It's not, as Frank Sinatra sang, a life philosophy of "I did it my way."  Rather, there comes a time when each of us needs to realize that, contrary to the American Dream, it's not all about me.  Life does not revolve around me.  I am NOT the master of my fate.  God is in charge, and I am humbly bow before Him, laying my hopes, my dreams, my talents, my abilities, my experiences, my failures, and my ambitions.  I must be willing to say, "God, when I try to drive the car of my life all on my own, without acknowledging You, I make a mess of things.  Please take over."

Jesus Christ, who is our Teacher, exemplified it best as described by the New Testament writer, Paul:
Philippians 2:4-11 shows that He was in very nature God.  He was, and is, the Creator.  Yet he made Himself nothing, became a man, and took on a life of obedience, suffering, and helping others.  He even submitted Himself to suffering and death, because He knew that it was serving a greater purpose. 

Practical Application: Are you surrendered to Jesus?  Is there any area of your life that you are unwilling to give over to Him?  I, personally, have struggled with the area of giving over my business, career, and financial plans to the Lord.  Yet, as I have relinquished my grip on them over the last two years, I am experiencing more joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment than I would have thought possible.  I have also struggled with other areas in my life, doing what I wanted to do, and it resulted in pain and suffering.  My pastor has a saying that is based on truth: "Choose to sin (make choices counter to what I know to be true and right, as commanded in the Bible), Choose to suffer."  Yet, I was fortunate to have people and God's grace in my life, so that I was enabled to repent (change my attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors) over time, and let me tell you, the surrendered life is a whole lot better than the selfish life.

The second Christian success factor is to SERVICE guided by love.  I loved a quote I saw on Twitter today from @eschreyer: "My vocation is love."  Mother Teresa posted this phrase as a daily reminder to all who were serving the dying poor of the streets of Calcutta.  It's a beautiful goal for us as we go about our daily lives.  Jesus Christ stated the goal of his life, when He told his followers that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  In other words, He did not expect anyone to cater to Him, even though He was, and is, the Creator of the universe.  Rather, he came to serve, to heal, to help, to restore, and to redeem (Matthew 20: 20-28) .  In the same way, our goal in life needs to be to humbly serve our family, our friends, our co-workers, our fellow women and men who live in poverty, or who are homeless.

Zig Ziglar has a saying, "You can always get what you want in life by helping others get what they want."  I would revise that saying by quoting the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood and to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The beauty of turning everything in our life over to the care of our Creator is that, when we do so, everything in life becomes much more meaningful and significant.  We become connected to our Source, much like a cell phone connected to it's charger.  Without the Source, the battery dies, and the cell phone is useless.  When my life is plugged in to my Creator, I am able to serve with love, and my life is right side up once more.  And nothing could be better than that!

I am including two resources that I think may be of service.

The first is a book by pastor Bill Hybels, based on Philippians 2:4-11. 


The second book is written by Rick Warren, a pastor out in California, written on living our lives driven by Purpose:



Please comment and share below!

Little Known Factors to Build Success

In some of my reading and research this weekend, I came across a fantastic video from a TED Conference speaker named Richard St. John, a 'self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved.'  He spend more than 10 years researching the key factors of success, and he distilled them into 8 words, 3 minutes, and one successful book.  He has written to great books, Spike's Guide to Success: Stupid Ugly, Unlucky and RICH, and 8 to Be Great: The 8 Traits that Lead to Great Success.  In his second book, he researched over 500 people at the top of their field, to find out what the common traits leading to success were. 

Here they are:

Success Factor #1: Passion, do it for the love, not for the money.  Bill Gates was passionate about bringing a computer to every home in America.  Jane Goodall was passionate about chimpanzees.  What are you passionate about?  What gets you up and going?  You need to reflect on what that is for you.

Success Factor #2: Work, but have fun doing it.  Success is opportunity disguised as hard work.  However, if you have met the test of Success Factor #1, you will have fun doing it.  You may need to choose to have an attitude of fun.  When you choose to have fun working, you will find that the attitude influences you, your co-workers, and your customers.  Eventually, you will find that the fun in work becomes second nature to you.

Success Factor #3: Good: Master it: Practice, Practice and Practice for the 10,000 hours that are required for you to become excellent at what you do.  Take Brian Tracy's suggestion of studying one hour per day in your field, so that you can be continuously learning and staying ahead of the curve.

Success Factor #4: Focus:  If you are anything like me, you may have wandered around the buffet of opportunities for a while taking a sip of this and a bite of that.  However, after a while, you have to settle down and focus on a few critical success areas if you are going to be able to have the time and intensity it takes to master that area.  Simpleology expert mark joyner also talks about this as being key.

Success Factor #5: Push, Push, Push.  The more comfortable we are, the greater are the chances that we will not take the risks we need to grow.  We need to push through shyness, self-doubt.  What is a key constraint for you that you need to take a chance with: is it managing others, public speaking, organization?  Decide that you are going to take an action step this week to push through.

Success Factor #6: Serve.  Many high school kids approach Richard St. John and tell him they want to be millionaires.  "Fine," he says.  "Then you need to find a way to serve them value that is worth a million dollars."  If you want to increase your financial net worth, you need to be creative, persistent, and consistent in bringing value to those you serve: your internal customers (those you work with) and your external customers.

Success Factor #7: Ideas: You have to have a way to be creative.  Ideas are what create value.  You can utilize brainstorming and journaling to bring value to your business and work.  Each morning when you get up, write at the top of a peice of paper: "What can I do to increase my value and my service to my customers today?"  Then take the time to write down 20 ideas.  Do this consistently, and you will generate a wealth of ideas from which you will be able to select the one/s that add value.

Success Factor #8: Persist! -- through criticism, rejection, difficult/negative people, and pressure.  In fact, you must expect adversity and embrace it as your greatest teacher.  Then you will not be surprised when it happens!

I'm going to include Mr. St. John's talk from TED here, so that you can review these key success factors in your journey to excellence:



Also, I am including his two books which will serve you well on your journey to excellence:





Please share the information below on StumbleUpon or Digg! Also, please take the time to share you comments below!

Will You Pass the Tests that I Failed?

photo credit: Josephine Anna on Flickr

It is natural, in toward the end of the year, to reflect on how the past year has gone. I have started this process, and actually have found myself reflecting on the past two years. I'd like to share some of the lessons I have learned in the process of working on Success Factors, both online and offline. I write this from the heart, and I write this as a follower of Jesus Christ, since that is the main part of my identity.

1. I failed the test of wanting the wrong things. What was the test? I have wanted the American Dream. "What's wrong with that?!" you ask. Well, there is a tale the Eskimos tell of the wolf, who starved for meat, comes upon a projectile in the ice and snow, coated with fresh blood. The fresh blood, warm and enticing, drives the wolf crazy. He licks and licks at the projectile, which is the razor sharp knife, coated with blood, thrust upright in the snow by the sly hunter. The wolf licks and licks, enjoying the fresh blood, not realizing that it is his own blood he licks. In time, he drops over dead, having bled to death.

The ten commandments in Exodus 20: 1-20 start off with the admonition to have no other gods beside the God who had delivered the Israelites from the land of slavery. For me, it started off innocently enough, when I read books such as the Richest Man in Babylon, the Millionaire Next Door, and Rich Dad Poor Dad. Is wanting financial comfort wrong? Absolutely not! However, I believe that I failed the test of loving God first, and the idea of getting rich started to take front and center at the expense of my relationship with God. That which we focuses on expands, states Anthony Robbins, and I found that to be true in my own thinking and heart. It was not obvious at first, just as the wolf does not notice that it's his own blood he is licking. However, over time, I started to experience leanness of spirit. The book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible shows Jesus speaking to and confronting/challenging Christians who were wealthy, and thought that they "had it all." However, they did not realize that when we focus on material things only, we do so at the expense of poverty of spirit (Revelation 3:18).

2. I failed the test of wanting the right things for the wrong reasons. "Steve, you must be insane! You're one of those stiff Christian types who states that having money is wrong." On the contrary, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having money. As James MacDonald, my pastor, has stated, don't make the mistake of thinking that those who have wealth are missing the boat, and that those who are living in poverty have greed beat. There are many wealthy people who are generous, and who don't find their significance in owning many things. On the other hand, there are many poor people who can think of nothing else than wanting to gain material things, so that they forget all about God.

I have written a number of posts on this blog based on Napoleon Hill's classic, Think and Grow Rich. One of his prerequisites to growing rich is to develop a burning desire for wealth. And that is where I believe I went wrong. My burning desire needs to be for my Creator and my God, who I have written about in my post about significance. As Steven Covey, in his classic book, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, has written, successful people begin with the end in mind, and they put first things first. The chief end of men and women, as I understand it for myself, is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That is to be my first and foremost magnificent obsession and burning desire.

So I failed to pass the test. What were the consequences to me over the past two years?

a) I got what I wanted. My Father is forever patient with me. But when I seek material things first, He allows me to do that. I was able to put in many hundreds of hours, seeking to be 'successful' in the form of network marketing ventures, online ventures, real estate ventures. In the process, I learned some great lessons, which I do not regret. But, I often had the nagging feeling that I was not really living up to my core values of God first, followed by family. In other words, my calendar should reflect that I am spending time in Bible study, prayer, and meditation, and quality time with my children and with my family. After all, there are only two things that will last forever: God and people. Too often, my calendar has reflected running after material things.

b) I missed out on the best thing. There is a parable (Matthew 13: 44-45) that Jesus tells in the New Testament. It's the parable of a poor farmer. He's out one day, and he stumbles upon a treasure hidden in a field. He sells all that he has so that he can buy that field and obtain that treasure. My Creator, my Lord Jesus Christ, is the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45). The more I know Him, the more I am filled, the more I want to know Him. The apostle Paul of the New Testament definitely found this to be true in his own life (Philippians 3:8).

So what do I intend to do, now that I realized I failed this test?

I am repenting! To repent is a Biblical term taken from the Greek word metanoia. It means that commit to change my thinking, which results in a change in my decision making and my actions.

My goal for the next year is to step away from the "God-and" philosophy. The God-and philosophy of life states that God is fine, as long as he is part of my portfolio. My portfolio requirements are, of course, all about me, when I have this philosophy. God's fine, as long as He is just one slice of my pie, which includes making lots of money, having a great life partner, having the house in the burbs, and being able to hold onto secret sins that might be offensive or unBiblical. The bottom line is, my life is not all about me! It's all about Him!

When I reflect on the price He paid for me, it's ludicrous that I should think life is about me.

So, how might this look? Please note that there is no prescription about what consists of a life lived for God instead of for purely material motives. Each person is different; each person has their own struggle in putting God first in his/her life.

For me, I am working on:

Giving God the best of my time and energy, which may mean working less and serving more in the community, such as a volunteer at an animal shelter, or at the church, or at any agency that works to serve the disadvantaged or the poor.

This also means that I am working on being more intentional in giving to support organizations that work to decrease poverty around the world and in my own country.

Putting God first also means that I am daily spending time in God's Word, the Bible, so that I can prayerfully find out what is His Will for me, versus living my life only for myself. This also will mean, for me, that I am intentional about memorizing Scripture, praying more, and seeking to serve my family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, and customers.

Finally, I am going to be shifting the focus of this blog to include a lot of writing about what it means to be successful from a Christian perspective.

I am preparing to pass the test of significance in this coming year, and for years to come. How about you?

By the way, I've got to close by sharing this song, Pure and Holy Passion. I hope it blesses and inspires you as you seek to pass the test of significance :)



Click Here! for excellent resources for Personal Growth Development

I welcome your comments below, or your comments on Twitter