Daily Devotion: Bad Success

Bible Reading: Joshua 1:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 8 – “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.”
            

Key Words: then thou shalt have good success

Look at those last two words of Joshua 1:8: “good success.” Now, most people feel as though any and all success is good, but this is not so. If there is a “good success,” there must also be a “bad success.” Which raises the question that begs for an answer: what is bad success?

Bad success is when you have money, but you do not have Jesus as your Savior.

Bad success is when you have designer clothes, but a life not designed for God’s glory.

Bad success is when you have material possessions: cars, land, houses; but you do not have salvation.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26a, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Success can be measured by answering three simple questions.

First of all, where did I come from? Would you not agree that we came from God? Psalm 127:3; Psalm 139:13-18. Now, since we came from God – that raises a second question: why am I here? The answer is found in Revelation 4:11b, “...for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” You find the same thought running through the Bible. I Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17.

So since we came from God and are here for God, let me ask, “How successful are you?” But there is a third question I must ask, “Where are you going? Where will you spend eternity?” Without Christ as your Savior, hell is your eternal destination. Now, how successful is that?

What to do:
✞ Evaluate your success in light of God’s Word.

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