When Success Becomes Failure

When Success Becomes Failure WHEN SUCCESS BECOMES FAILURE
By Robert Alexander

Perhaps some of you have seen men and business enterprises rise rapidly in the world to what appeared to be a noble success; but in an hour when you were least expecting sucn a thing there came the news of failure. Individual or business, as the case maj have been, toppled and passed into obscurity. Or you have seen a crop, in June time, filled with blossoms gay giving forth flattering hopes of a heavy harvest. In one hour, with lowering clouds, lightning’s flash and thum der’s roar the tempest came down; and when the sun once more broke through and drove the storm clouds away, all hopes of harvest had been blasted.

Perchance, it was a fine dwelling which you saw. It rep resented years of toil and sacrifice, and was fine to behold and possess. But in the wee hours of night, without a moment’s warning, a tiny flame broke forth in the attic, the house was soon wrapped with fire, and within a fewT minutes the stately mansion lay mouldering in the dying embers. Some of you could recite incidents showing how moments of supreme joy have been turned into occasions of bitterest sorrow. I have in mind at the present time an incident with which most of you are acquainted and some of you may have been deeply affected by this affafr.’ It was on a crispy Christmas Eve night; the air was full of frost; the ground was covered with a light blanket of sleet and snow; all nature was in tune for a merry Christmas. Neighbors and friends had gathered in a little country schoolhouse for the purpose of exchanging presents and extending the season’s greetings to one another But the joy of the occasion had hardly begun when fire broke out and turned the occasion into a panic. Within thirty minutes the community, yea, the state and nation were turned to weeping; for in the Babbs- Switch fire thirty-two people were burned to death and scores of others were maimed for life. So it is with man. In the midst of prosperity he is in adversity. In the midst of joy he is in sorrow. In the midst of health he is in death. And in the midst of success he is in failure.

Many of you, no doubt, are thinking that the title of this discussion seems to be a contradiction of terms. This I admit to be true, but at the same time call your attention to the fact that many of the principles enunciated by the Savior Himself are paradoxical. Let me mention a few of these principles for your consideration. Losing your life is finding it. For Jesus said, “He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Finding your life is losing it. For again Jesus says, “He that findeth his life shall lose it.” To be greatest you must be least. “For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” Giving is getting. “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together shall men give into your bosom. For with what measure you mete it shall be measured unto you again.” Again Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But why? Because giving is getting. To the Apostle Peter the Master said, “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel’s but shall receive an hundredfold now in this time—and in the world to come eternal life.” But you are beginning to see that things that appear impossible with men are possible with God. Let us never forget that God hath said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” If we would always see things as they really are we must place ourselves in position to see them as God sees them. If we look at an achievement' from the low and sordid position of man it may appear to reach the heights of glory and success. But if we view the same accomplishment from the Holy Heights of Heaven it may appear to be void of any true merit and altogether a dismal failure. Go with me, for a moment, and view one of the most magnificent kingdoms known in the history of the world. See Solomon, the proud Monarch of Israel, who surpassed all in his day, in wisdom, in power and in riches. Hear the Queen of Sheba, when she had seen the glory of Solomon’s court and had heard his wisdom as she exclaims, “The half has not been told.” Would you not, my young friends, join the world in acclaiming this achievement of Solomon’s a success ? And yet, Solomon himself, when he began to view his career from the standpoint of the Divine Word, saw his failure and expressed it in these words: “All is vanity and a vexation of the spirit.” Realizing his failure he sought to set us on the right course to success when he said, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of t'hy youth when the evil days come not and the years draw not nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.” Solomon was a failure in that he forgot his Creator.

However, you insist, Solomon was wise and surely wisdom gives success. No, success does not lie in wis-dom nor education. Wisdom is a wonderful thing; but empty learning is to be despised rather than aspired to. Solomon says, “In all thy getting get wisdom,” and “Happy is the man that iindeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding.” How different the world would be if persons would learn only one new thing every day. I would not discourage any course of preparation for greater usefulness but want you to see that success cannot be achieved in learning alone. Where is noble Athens or proud Rome? Both were centers of learning at different periods of the past, but they are fallen and forgotten. Their sleeping ruins are silent testimony to the fact that learning alone is not success. When Jesus began preparing for the establishment of His Kingdom here on earth, He did not seek the worldly wise to be the leaders in that work but chose, rather, humble hearted men from the lowly walks of life. Men who were willing to hear His word and obey the same. And just remember, young man, if ever you reach the place in your career of learning where you are not willing to hear, believe and abide by God’s Word, God cannot use you. To such a one wisdom has become a failure. Education is a weapon to be used by our greater passions and may be used for our condemnation as well as for our salvation. Spurgeon once said, “A cat with a silver collar is none the better mouser. Fine dress, learned degrees, high titles, and grand offices do not give ability. We have neard of doctors of divinity who were duller preachers than the generality of the clergy.”

Let us now survey other fields of endeavor to see what we can find with respect to success and failure. I feel sure that we can find no other field in which more people expect to achieve success than the field of finance or money-making. This is an age of commercialism and to a large extent we are counting success in dollars and cents. Even churches are not wholly blameless in this respect, for they vie with one another in building great church edifices while they starve the souls of men for the bread of life and strip their backs to pay church debts. Our public schools, almost from the first grade emphasize preparation for money-making thus giving aid to the idea that success may be achieved in this field. All of us have the human view of this question; so let us, for a moment, view the question as Jesus sees it. He says, “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” “Lay not up for yourslves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal.” To the rich young ruler the Master said, your success in riches has made you a failure in my sight, “Go sell that which thou hast and give unto the poor and come and follow me and thou shalt have treasures in Heaven.” See the picture of this farmer, whose barns are filled with a bountiful harvest? Watch him as he builds bigger barns to store away his rapidly accumulating wealth, against the days of old age and inactivity. Surely he was a success in the eyes of his fellow countrymen. Many men, no doubt, coveted his prosperity. But hear the Lord Almighty as He says, “Thou fool, tonight is thy soul required of thee; then whose shall these things be?” In his haste to make a financial success he had forgotten God and had been laying up treasures on earth instead of in Heaven; and in that, his success was turned into failure. Financial success need not cause failure, in the sight of God, but in many instances it does. Alas! it is true that in many instances, men and women, true servants of the Lord, because of prosperity have been turned away from the House of the Lord to serve the world and the flesh. Whenever man, whether his financial success be great or small, refuses to use his means to the glory of God, his success becomes a failure.

You, my young friends, are just in the act of choosing your life’s career. Be sure you choose wisely; for your choice means joy or sorrow, success or failure, salvation or condemnation. It is essential that you learn early in life what makes for lasting and eternal success. For that success that passes with the passing of time is not success at all; but a delusive phantom which many following shall be led astray and pierced through with many sorrows. But if you have chosen unwisely in the past do not let the mistake haunt your life nor hinder your future progress. Right your mistakes t'he best you can and forget them. God will. Say with Paul of old, “One thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward unto the things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Two brothers were tried and condemned in Colonial days for stealing cattle. They were sentenced to be branded on the forehead with the capital letters, S. C. One of the boys could not bear the reproach of the punishment in his home community and decided to run away from his shame. He went into new communities but wherever he went people were inquiring concerning the strange youth with the strange letters on his forehead. Thus haunted by the past the young man fled from place to place and at last died, in young manhood, a fugitive and a vagabond among strange people. The other boy settled down in his neighborhood, went to work and lived an upright life. People forgot his trouble and thought nothing strange of the brand on his face. Finally, when the man was old, a stranger moved into the community and inquired of one of the neighbors what the strange letters on the old man’s face meant. The neighbor replied, “We do not know but think they mean Saint of Christ.” However successful a man may seem to be in running from his sins or in covering them up, he will surely come to failure. You cannot run away from God. Remember Jonah! Nor can you conceal your sins from Jehovah. Do you remember the story of David, King of Israel, who illegally took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and then in order to cover up his sin had Uriah slain in battle? No doubt, David was exultant over his success in covering up his wrong-doing. But his suc-cess was short-lived for soon Nathan, the prophet of God, arrived on the scene to rebuke David for the sin which he thought no one know. Nathan pictured the sin of David in a parable and David hearing, grew red with rage and pronounced the death sentence upon the one who had committed the crime. The prophet of God said, “You are the man.” God had said, “Be sure your sins will find you out,” and even a king upon the throne could not deceive the God of Heaven. Thus success was turned into failure. The only thing to do in case of sin is to confess it as David did when Nathan revealed to him the error of his way.

Success lies before all. You may not be able to climb to the brilliant heights of glory, but you can glorify the common ways of life. Do not despise the little things of life; for in little things men either fail or succeed. He who fails in little thing's cannot succeed in great things. But one prepares to succeed in great things by performing well the little tasks of life. Have you read the parable of the talents? “Because thou hast been faithful in very little have thou authority over ten cities.” “Thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will make you ruler over many. Enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.” The Savior teaches in this parable that faithfulness in small matters prepares for usefulness in a greater sphere. However, some people who have been able to succeed in the big affairs of the world have been overcome by the little things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven. Alexander of Mace- don, was able to conquer the world but was unable to master a little appetite which brought him to an untimely grave, a drunken wretch. Moses the deliverer, leader and lawgiver of Israel was a success in each of these great fields, but because of unfaithfulness in little things, when he failed to exalt God instead of himself and Aaron, God refused to permit him to enter Canaan. Remember, young people, when you go out into life, that whatever you may be able to achieve, your success will be turned into failure if your life does not, above all other things, hold Christ up on the athletic field, into the class room, into your dealings with one another on the campus and into your homes when you leave these college halls. Do not become self-exalted. Uzziah at the age of sixteen was made king of Judah and reigned in Jerusalem for a period of fifty-two years. The Lord blessed him and he became a mighty monarch in number of subjects, in possessions and in war. “But in the midst of his glory his heart was lifted up to his destruction.” He refused to hear God and His messengers. He went in to the Golden Altar and offered incense thereon when he had been warned not to do so. When Uzziah came out, he was smitten with leprosy and died in exile. His success was turned into failure when he refused to hear the will of God. May God always keep you, young people, so you will be willing, at all times, to hear His will in every matter. A building, however grand its superstructure may be, can never long stand if it is placed upon an insecure foundation. Be sure your foundation is well laid, of the right kind of material, then begin your superstructure. Napoleon said, “Alexander, Charlemagne, Caesar and I built our Empires on power and they have long since perished. But Jesus of Nazareth founded His Kingdom on love and there are millions who would die for Him today.” Some one else has said, in order to build aright, “We must' think never of our enemies, seldom of ourselves, often of our friends and every day of Jesus.” Be honest in your building if you want it to be secure. Do not try to bluff your way through the world, nor deceive, for you will sooner or later be defeated in this course for it heads directly towards failure. A young lad away from home, in school, thought he had not been getting as much money as he should have and decided to do a little bluffing. So he sent his father the following telegram: “No mon, no fun, your Son.” The father sat down immediately and wrote in reply. “Too bad, so sad, your Dad.” Another lad who had learned to cheat and deceive while in school, married soon after finishing his course, and began to look for employment. He had studied carpentry and so his father-in-law showed him a vacant lot and told him to prepare estimates on building a house of certain dimensions with first class material. The figures were submitted and the boy went to work. But he said to himself, “I could make more money out of this contract if I should use second grade material and fewer nails and braces than were specified.” So acting on this suggestion the house rapidly went up. Finally all was done and a little paint covered all defects. He delivered the key to his father-in-law and received the contract price. But he was fearfully shocked when the old gentleman gave the keys back to him saying, “I give this house to you for a home, move in.” Had he known he was building for himself he would have built of the best material, braced in the most substantial fashion. 'You, young ladies and young gentlemen, are today engaged in building a spiritual structure in which you must dwell some day. Be sure that you build well of material that is enduring. Make the best' of your opportunities. Jesus says, “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man that built his house on a rock.” In conclusion, let me remind you, my dear young people, that you have a soul to save as well as a life to live. And he who so lives, in this life, that he loses his soul has failed; though he may have gained the whole world. Build a character, which is the spiritual house in which you must meet God, by laying the word of God deep in your heart and by complying with its ihstructions. “Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Guessing at life doesn’t please God, well. Measure every act of your life by the spirit- level of His word and thereby make your life true and straight. The Bible is the ultimate test of life and character. Do you know a book that you would be glad to have under your head when you die? Then make that book your constant companion through life. Holy Bible! Book Divine! Read it, study it', love it, accept its promises, obey its commandments, and success, in which there can be no failure, is yours in this world and in the world which is to come.