ISSUE 9, FRIDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2015
PRINCIPAL, JEFF DAVIS I have recently been reading some literature on how to succeed in life; a premise we often take for granted and spend little time truly researching and thinking about. When we take a worldly perspective on this issue we are often left conned by the belief
that fame, fortune, money and material possessions are essential to the success of one’s life. More and more this is becoming a mute argument as we become aware of the terrible state that many people live in and our relative life of comfort far outweighs those of millions and millions of people. We can often forget that thousands of children die every day due to lack of food and poor hygiene and lack of basic health care. We forget how lucky we really are. One of the things that has resonated with me through this time of reading has been the true essence of success is directly related to our character. If we gain the perspective that what people think of us is our reputation, but what we are is our character, then we now have a benchmark to consider a point of success. If I look
to biblical characters and stories to find examples of character, it is easy to find examples of how Godly men and women have used this premise to succeed. Moses spent the first 40 years of his life doing things for God his way. He spent the next 40 years learning to rely on God and to grow his character and then finally the last 40 years of his life using his character in God to helping others find their success. Joseph was anointed to become a successful leader and in his own strength told everyone how great he would become. His brothers became envious and resentful and sold him to slavery where he had to lean on God for many years to build the character that God would use in a mighty way for the rest of his life. When Joseph finally achieved freedom, he was a completely
different person in character and was able to lead with great wisdom. There are many more examples of biblical stories where character growth has been the most essential element in gaining success. This allows us to make some conclusions to help our children be successful in life. For a start, children need to focus on building characters that will be trusted, loved and respected in the future. They should also learn how to serve others and make wise decisions. But by far the most important is that they learn to love God. We can do many things on our own and gain some material or personal gain, but true success can be found when we embrace our creator and establish a personal relationship with Him. The character that this will build guarantees success.
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