Title Judges 05:31 The Road to Success
Contents Judges 5:31
There are 4 things everyone wants. First, a balanced life. You want balance in your life. Second is simplicity. I like the simple over the complicated. Third, you want to be successful in something. Finally, we want to be more influential in what they do. Do you guys want to be successful? What do you want to be successful at?
What is success? In short, it is the love of God. In today's text, those who love God ask for the sun to rise with power.
What is real success? It is to love God. If you do not love the Lord, no matter how successful it seems, it is actually a failure.
In the text, ‘those who love the Lord’ are asked to make the sun rise with power,’ but ‘those who love the Lord’ is translated as ‘friends of God’ in the English Bible. To be friends with God is to love God. That's success. There are people in the Bible who are friends with God. Abraham. Abraham said, "Then it was fulfilled which is said in the scriptures, which is called, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23). Abraham had no choice but to succeed because he was a friend of God.
To love God is to have a covenant relationship with God. The Hebrew word for ‘love’ in the text refers to ‘covenantal commitment to God’. Loving God is a covenantal commitment to God (Exodus 20:5-6). Commitment to the covenant is love.
Why did the writer of Judges pray for the sun to rise with strength in ‘Let those who love You rise like the rising sun’? The characteristic of the sun is that it shines. The sun is the source of light.
Christians are the light that illuminates the world. So, success is determined by how brightly you light up the world. I'll say it again. Success doesn't depend on where I stand in the world or how high I rise in the world. “You are the light of the world; a city that is on a hill cannot be hidden; no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and therefore it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:14-15). light. In this fallen life, if we, too, fall, sin, and live according to the world's ways, then we are like successful people, but we are a failure. At one time, the phrase ‘learn and become a man’ was fashionable. So is success. True success isn't just for me. When the Korean church illuminates the world with light, it is truly successful. Do you want success? Light up the world with what you have. Benefit Be influential.
What is real success? Loving God is true success. Illuminating the world like the sun is success. Are you truly living a successful life?