The way successful men are applauded and celebrated made me to desire to be successful, right from the time I was a child. I used to feel good when I pass my exams. I feel on top of the world when I gain admission into a competitive school. I had, however, discovered that the excitement does not last. That very thing that brought joy to my life sometimes brings sadness later. I then began to ask: which achievement in life lasts. How am I going to get that success which would bring joy all the days of my life? If I discover that, I was determined to get it.
Wealth! What amount of riches would guarantee this desired lasting joy? Would a car and a house do? I have come to understand that the more your wealth increase, the more your desire. Who knows? You might one day desire to possess the entire world.
Would fame and power bring joy that would last? I was taught to learn from others’ mistakes. So, when I heard the confession of an influential politician, I bit my lips. I came to understood that power and fame can as well ruin a man.
In his dead-bed, he confessed: “…I would have loved to die a saint rather than a hero.”
If power, fame and wealth would not bring lasting joy in life, what then? In my search, I came across another confession of a man whose death was near.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;” II Timothy 4:7.
With this, I discovered that some men in the past did achieve this lasting success. I then knew I was nearer to finding the source. Then, I came across this.
“This book of the law shall not depart from 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.” Joshua 1:8.
That was all I needed to know. One can achieve this greatest success that lasts, if and only if he is a friend (obey the laws) of Him that gives success.
What would such a man gain? Peter once asked Jesus that question.
“And Jesus answered and said…he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” Mark 10:29,30.
Such a man has everything now, on that day and forever.
– okenna obi-igbokwe
