The Bible, Zig Ziglar, and Success

"Life's too tough to get to the top without passion. You're going to fail, be taken advantage of, be disappointed by people you trust, disappoint yourself, run out of resources - almost every day you're going to encounter a good, solid, logical reason why you ought to give up. And without passion, you just might" (Ziglar, 2006).

Whether you are working at raising kids, moving up in your career, earning more money, losing weight, becoming a better cook, gaining genuine friendships, learning a new skill, training for an event, we can all find good, logical reasons why we should just quit. Life is tough, and we can easily conclude that our dreams and our reality are never going to be one in the same. But, what if that is not the case? What if we can add a few factors, like passion, purpose, and God's promises to the equation? Could that yield much different results?

Zig Ziglar teaches us to have hope. "I have learned through the years that, for reasons I can't scientifically or even theologically explain, how I expect things to be greatly influences how they become (Ziglar, 2006)."  We should expect great things. But, do the Scriptures tell us to do the same?

John 10:10 states that Jesus came that we might have this life and have it abundantly. When God speaks about abundance, He is talking about more than we can fathom. He is able and willing to do "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20). And, Scripture tells us that He wants to give us good gifts. These are God's promises to you! Can you imagine what that could look like in your life?

Knowing God's promises is the first step. Then, we must know our purpose. Our purpose is to trust and obey His word. We can be obedient in faith, love, and in doing good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

It is fascinating to me that God tells us that if we love Him, we must obey His commands (John 14:15). We would expect to see a huge list of commands. But, instead, he tells us that His command is this: to love one another (1 John 4:21).

Third, after we know God's promises and our purpose, we must have passion. Passion is emotional energy that you use to accomplish your goals and dreams. Passion can be derived from finding your God-given talents and formulating your goals and dreams, which are, often times, the desires that God has placed on your heart.  When you have passion, purpose, and God's promises, you can clearly see that good things are to come. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

Whether you are a parent, who is happy to raise a family, or a career person, who wants to make a difference, if your heart is turned toward God, He can give you the love, the courage, the strength, the faith - everything that you need - to see positive change.

Thanks for reading!
~Melissa Seng

Reference:

Ziglar, Zig. (2006). Better Than Good: Creating the Life You Can't Wait to Live. Integrity Publishers:  Brentwood, TN.