There is no shortage of books and articles that tell you how to be successful. Now success can happen in many areas. Most want to be rich or famous, but some want to be an expert in their field. If you read any material, they will usually tell you that you have to set goals, plan your path, and then grind away till it happens. King Solomon gives us the secret to success you won’t read anywhere else.
Proverbs 20:7, 24
“A righteous person acts with integrity; his children who come after him will be happy. Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the Lord, so how can anyone understand his own way?”
Know these two things
Goals, strategy, and hard work are noble pursuits, and there is nothing wrong with them but look again at what Solomon says. Integrity and sovereignty are the two secrets. Integrity is best defined as what you do when no one is watching, and sovereignty is the understanding God is in control, and we are not.
Do the Right Thing
You will usually hear people give lip service to integrity and they typically refer to it as character, but it is really doing the right thing. Traveling the path to success, you will encounter many temptations and shortcuts that promise to get you there sooner, but beware they are all lies and traps. Doing the right thing every day begins to add up after time. It takes perseverance, but if you stick with it, you will see the rewards. One of the benefits will be that your children will be happy. Many successful people have forsaken their families and paid the price later. Do the right thing, and you will reap long term benefits.
Submit to God’s Plans
Sovereignty is defined as God having the ability to make decisions on his own without answering to anyone else. If he is in control of how things are going, then he is going to order our steps. You can have all the courage and passion in the world, but your success is not all up to you. God wants us to submit under his plans and allow him to put us on the best path. The secret to success is to live with integrity and under the sovereignty of the Lord.