It is a wise decision to want to know where you stand, whether you are on the path of success or not, but it is possible to do this in an unwise way. There are two common ways believers score themselves that always results to detrimental consequences.
Some believers feel they are experiencing success in life when they compare themselves with others they believe are in the same social stratification, age group or work class with them and it is as though they have an upper hand. That is why some pastors feel rosy when their church congregation is more than the one close to them and some men feel groovy when they buy luxuries their friends can’t afford.
Some other times, when believers realize that others they classify as their mate are getting results they are yet to get, they start feeling envious. That is why some ladies change the tone of their prayers when most of their friends are getting married and some men start having sleepless nights when their friends got a higher paying job, built a magnificent edifice or bought a new car.
Perhaps right now you have a keyboard and a mouse in front of you. Can you try to use the mouse to type the word “SUCCESS”? If you succeed in doing that, try using the keyboard to click on the word you typed. Yeah! Such things don’t make sense when we are dealing with objects, but don’t you wonder why they make a lot of sense with believers? How will it sound if the mouse suddenly begins to lament that ‘I cannot type’. No wonder II Corinthians 10:12 says “…When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise”.
In the story of the prodigal son, the Bible says in Luke 15:17 (NIV) that “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare’. The prodigal son scored himself not with his fathers hired men but with the standard in his father’s house. The right way to know whether you are still on the path of success is to score yourself with the standard in God’s word and in view of His plan for your life, which is unique to you alone.
– tope aladenusi
