The Great Lie

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. – Ecclesiastes 6:1-2

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It’s hard to identify the single most destructive and pernicious lie most Christian men believe. There are a few, though, which strongly contend for the top spot.

One of those certainly has to be the pervasive notion that a man’s success in life is a direct result of his own hard work, dedication, efficiency, productivity and talent; that the rich are rich because they earned it themselves and that the not-so-rich failed in some way to rise to the same level.

The Bible knows nothing of such thinking.

Instead, it points the rich and the successful towards God as the sole source of their earthly victories. Solomon makes clear in Ecclesiastes that God not only gives a person any wealth, possessions, and honor they may have, but that He also decides whether or not they get to enjoy them. God Himself told David in II Samuel 7:8 that it was He who took David from his life as a poor, unimportant shepherd and made him king. In Deuteronomy 8:18, God proclaimed to the entire nation of Israel that it would be He who enabled them to gain wealth.

Men, in your careers, in your relationships, and throughout your entire lives, you owe all that you have, all that you earn, all that you gain, and all that you acquire to God and to God alone (James 1:17). The Lord despises human pride in all its forms (Proverbs 8:13) and warns against every assumption of prosperity that refuses to consider the sovereignty of God above all else (James 4:13-17).

Acknowledge the Lord in all that you do (Proverbs 3:6) and thank Him for all that you receive (I Thessalonians 5:18). You do not know the future and you do not control all the circumstances of your life. He does. And His purposes for you, your life, your job, your family, and everything else in your world cannot be overturned or undone (Job 42:2).

Reject any notion of thought that would have you believe you should take credit for your success. Your responsibility before God lies in faithfulness to opportunity (Matthew 25:14-30) and obedience (John 14:15, James 1:22-25). All else is up to Him.

So, work as an obedient servant and understand that God will take care of the results.