Success motivation

What does success look like for you? A good looking spouse, a great career, admiration from friends, and this list goes on. What would you trade for this success? Family? Health? Peace of mind? … God’s blessings? King Jehoram of Judah was granted 8 years of kingship, but he chose to pay a hefty price. Pretty much all of the above mentioned did he freely trade. In the end he was left with nothing, all alone.
8 years earlier, he became king. He had attained the highest goal imaginable to most. His lust for power was so much however that he ended up killing all his brothers in case they posed a threat to his throne. Instead of trusting God from who all blessings flow, he leans on the “arm of flesh”, and trusts in his sword. He truly felt the way of the sword would guarantee success, yet he was very wrong.
I believe all of us have a tendency to act like Jehoram. See when our thirst for love, significance, accolades, and natural benefits become a consuming passion, we find ourselves wielding an intangible, (but powerful ) sword to displace opposing forces. Sure you haven’t killed your brother, but check your heart. How have you viewed their successes, or failures? Do you wish the best for him? Did you act in love or outside of love? Scripture says that if I hate my brother in my heart, then I am guilty of murder which warranted the death sentence. Ponder this thought. By our criticism, judgment and despising of others we deal spiritually lethal blow that eventually come full circle. An unexpected relationship breakdown, a topple from the career ladder, a premature midlife crisis, and plethora of emotionally traumatic scenarios leaves us with much sorrow and regret.
Jehoram’s sins did not stop with murder, like his father Jehoshaphat, he married from Ahab’s family, binding himself to familial sin and compromise, and incurring the judgment of God. His lust for self aggrandizing blinded him to God’s voice. He was judged by God and plagued with a disease of hemorrhaging bowels, dying a painful death, all along, without honor and acclaim he went to his grave.
Let all you do be motivated by love, is God’s cure for the Jehoram in us. Put yourself in the other’s shoes and act as Christ would. Do you have lust for things, people and power? Then bring yourself to the Christ of the cross. Repent for your ungodly motivations, expose your inner thoughts to him, and find accountability in the community of Christ. While this process is ever painful, and never ending, you will find truer, deeper successes as Christ, not self has become the platform on which your life is built.