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Copyright 2005. Skinner Leadership Institute

Finding Real Success
by Tom Skinner
Paperback | Product Num: 010-FNDSC
Price: $6.00

From Chapter One

While most people assume that almost everyone born on the face of the earth wants to succeed, and while success is a word used by most people, the fact is, most people do not want to succeed. The way you judge the intent of a person is to watch what he does. For instance, we are told that the average person only uses 3% of their total mental capacity. Therefore, a person who uses 10% is considered to be a genius. A genius, because they are using three times more than the average person, but still has 90% going to waste.

The Bible says, “As a person thinks, so are they.” Few people have a plan about how they will make their life count. Just as you have a game plan, a way by which you plan to proceed today and every day that you play, what is the game plan for your life? What do you want your life to count for? Where do you want it to go? What do you want it to do? What difference will it make that you ever lived?

The Bible gives us a guide for what a person who is really successful, by God’s terms, would look like. “Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his Law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also will not wither; and whatever he does will prosper. The ungodly are not so: but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”—Psalm 1:1

Two Pathways to Success

Right away we’re faced with two people, a godly person and an ungodly person. One is successful and the other a failure. What makes one person successful and the other a failure? Psalm 1 starts off by saying, “Blessed is the person that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.” An ungodly person is not necessarily a bad person. Most people look at a person and say this person is bad because he mistreats people, he’s violent, he kills, he’s a drug addict, he’s an alcoholic and he beats his wife. The Bible says that does not make a person ungodly. According to scripture, the ungodly person is one who has chosen to run his own life, to have his own way, and to do his own thing. He has said to God, “I can function without you.”

This person can be a nice person, have a pleasant disposition, do good things, give money to charity, help ladies across the street, be a good father and family man, good supporter, and a good person. But basically this person is ungodly because he has said I choose to run my own life and do my own thing, clinched his fists in the face of God, and told Him, “Get off my back and leave me alone. I am the captain of my own soul and the master of my own fate. I choose to run my own life.”

Begin With Godly Counsel

“Blessed is the person who does not seek the counsel of the ungodly.” People who are failures like to give advice because they need people to be in the same boat with them. “Man, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I wouldn’t take that.” When they see you doing a little extra they say, “Who are you breaking your neck for? Nobody else is doing it! Why are you taking the extra lap? Why are you watching the extra game? Why are you studying the game plan one hour longer than everybody? Why? Why? Why?” Those who are failures in life always want to advise you to adopt their posture.

The Bible says, “Do not seek the counsel of the ungodly.” If a person has said, “I am not going to keep the commandments of God, obey God, or love God with all my heart, mind and strength,” what can they tell you about living? What can they tell you about success? What can a person who doesn’t want to work tell you about how to succeed at work? What can a person who spends every dime they make, tell you about investing and saving? There’s a lot of advice in the world. The question is to know from where to take it.

copyright © 2003 Skinner Leadership Institute. All rights reserved.