A Successful Career
A Successful Career
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. (Gen. 39:2)
What Constitutes Success?
A recent survey of 27,500 randomly selected people representing 198 occupations found that the most satisfying careers are those involving caring for, teaching, and protecting others. The world speaks of success as being the ability to have whatever you want whenever you want it. However, this jaded concept of life does not correlate with true happiness and success in a career. Success consists in achieving God-given goals that help people. There’s deep satisfaction in that.
Joseph’s Success
The Scripture says that Joseph, the Old Testament son of Jacob, “became a successful man.” How? Why? Because “the Lord was with Joseph.” Early in life Joseph had dreams that God had great things planned for him (see Gen. 37:5–11). And yet he was thrown in a pit (37:24), sold into slavery (37:36), and falsely imprisoned (39:6–20). Life is not easy, and careers are often endangered by unfortunate events, but if we maintain our faith, the opportunity for true success is always within reach.
Joseph’s success was the result of pleasing God. Making money was not his focus. Even though tough times came, he held on to his integrity and his involvement with others (39:5; 39:21–23). No wonder he was exalted in his career (41:39–45). What do you want out of life? Know that God wants you to succeed, but success will always be on His terms, as He defines it.
Bottom Line
Life at its best must be a life of unselfish service, a life willing to share with others, a life that witnesses for Christ, a life of love and faithfulness.