Three Principles Of Success From Jesus Christ
He who has will be given more. He who does not have, even the little he has will be taken away from him.
I study the Bible often, and I realized that it is practical as much as it is spiritual.
When I look closely at Jesus’s teachings, I understand a lot of practical principles of success embedded in his teachings and parables that can be applicable in our lives.
He said, Oh you of little faith. This is a phrase he said a lot, probably second to; he who has ears, let him hear. Now, I invite you to hear the words you’re about to read and learn from one of the wisest teachers recorded in human history literature.
Oh you of little faith,
Jesus made this statement during the sermon on the mountain. He said this in pity for the people, for you and me. Why did he pity us? We worry too much.
1 Do Not Worry.
It’s safe to say Jesus had unlocked a higher understanding of life that he could not comprehend the concept of worrying. He goes on to say,….
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life”
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
He wanted us to understand that worrying brings nothing to us. Nothing. In fact, he found it inconceivable that someone would spend even a second of their precious time worrying. He gives us an example of how everything else works just fine within the laws of nature, and we are also a part of nature. Meaning, no matter what problem you have today, tomorrow it will pass just like the weather.
I have found this to be true. I have been in situations where I dreaded to face tomorrow because I was worried about how I would face my problems, but now when I look back at it after I have passed that situation, I fail to understand why I worried and tormented myself. This kept on happening in my life because problems and challenges are a part of life, but what shouldn’t be, is worrying in times of hardships.
Learn to find peace in the middle of the storm. Have faith that the day will come, in fact, you don't need faith, KNOW that the day will come because, guess what, since the beginning of time, the day always came after the night. So, in times of hardships, Do not worry. It will pass, that’s a promise of the law of nature.
2 Gratitude
He who has will be given more. He who does not have, even the little he has will be taken away from him.
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
I read this statement of Jesus and I had to pause for a moment and ponder. After a while, I still couldn’t understand it. Then I saw the statement he mad just before that,
Consider how you listen to this.
Now, I was able to understand the meaning of his statement. Consider how you listen to this? This implies that you ought to ponder what’s about to be said next. It implies that what’s about to be said next is a proverb you must decipher the meaning of.
When you spend time reading the teachings of Jesus as I have, you will understand that, he said a lot of things that required the audience to think and figure out the meaning, hence the most reoccurring statement of all, he who has ears let him hear.
Now, how can someone who has, be given more, and the one who doesn’t have, lose all he has? Why would Jesus, a man considered to be a divine incarnation of God say something as unfair as that?
I asked myself that question until I had to consider how I interpret it.
I believe what Jesus meant here was, Gratitude.
He who has, is a grateful person, and, a grateful person, will always have more to be grateful of.
We must always come from a grateful place. Desire more for your life, but always be grateful for what you have today. In your life, there’s plenty to be grateful for, even your health or your bed.
See, being a grateful person is not merely saying, I’m grateful. It’s truly understanding how blessed you are. It’s looking at yourself and realize that every part of your body functions properly, and really be grateful for that fact because there are many disabled people and you aren’t one of them. It’s looking around where you are and really be grateful for what you have, the family and friends you have. It’s knowing and understanding that, from you being alive today and everything good you have is a blessing, it isn’t owed to you by anyone but you’re fortunate to be and have what you have.
So now, when you understand that, you then look at everything differently. You focus on your blessings, the good things you have, you fill yourself with gratitude, and guess what, you will have more in your life to be grateful for, it’s a law of nature.
Now, he who does not have is an ungrateful person. An ungrateful person will eventually lose even the good they have.
See, it’s like a friend you always try to help, do favors for and give gifts to, and he/she is always never satisfied, complaining, and never thankful. What’s will happen next? You are going to stop being bothered with them. And that’s nice of you to do that because nature doesn’t stop there, it doesn’t just stop giving us good things, no, it starts giving us more things to complain about because we like to complain too much.
If you’re ungrateful for anything, that means you’re incapable of realizing the good in your life and the good, people bring to you, and sooner than you think, misery will come upon you and swallow your whole existence, this again, is a law of nature.
3 The Importance Of Ideas
On another occasion, Jesus laid out a parable, the authors called this; Parable Of The Talents.
In this parable, Jesus talks about a man who gave his three servants talents before he went away. To the first one, he gave five talents, to the second one, he gave two talents, to the third one, he gave one talent.
Upon returning, the first two had doubled their talents. Their master was happy, he praised them and said;
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
However, the last one, after saying a lot of excuses to justify why he had hidden his talent, the master rebuked him and threw him away.
He who is faithful with the least, will be given more in abundance.
Now, I want you to look at these talents as your ideas. Think of it as if, there’s a mythical angel of life that deposits ideas into your heart and mind, but, the angel always comes back to check what you have done with those ideas.
When an idea comes into your mind, it is your responsibility to execute it. In doing so, you open doors for yourself in your pursuit of a successful life. You cannot have the things you desire in life until you start walking in the reality of your ideas. The moment you start working on your idea you simultaneously step into a different reality. A reality that has the solutions you need to grow your life.
It’s like this, ideas are a path to the life you want. If you want to have the life you desire to have, you will only get there when you start executing the ideas you have.
You must forget the idea that an idea is a destination. It doesn’t mean that if you have an idea to start a business selling books; that it's your destiny. No. What happens is, the moment you start working on that business idea, you start having the right questions to ask, when you seek those answers, you will find that, wait, I think selling shoes is better, or because of this, I think being a lawyer is better. What happened here? You began to walk, so a new reality was revealed unto you. If you had not started on the idea of selling books, you would have never found out that selling shoes or becoming a lawyer was a better business.
Remember, I will put you in charge of many things.
Once you realize that an idea is a way, not a destination. You will realize that an idea is only just life giving you something to see if it can trust you with more. So, don’t let that angel come back and see you in the same place, your way to the life you want will be taken away from you because you like to give excuses. Don't be lazy or scared, just execute and see what happens.