Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. Luke 2:14 (NIV)
God’s favour rests on you.
As a believer, you have access to His incredible power, ability, stamina, wisdom and provision. It’s not that you have just a little advantage over the rest of the world. We’re talking about favour that makes people shake their head and ask, “How on earth did you get to where you are today?”
If you grew up in legalistic religion, you might have trouble with the idea of favour. You may have learned that you need to earn God’s love and acceptance, so the idea that God has freely given you everything you need is foreign. Here’s the problem with this. Believing that God won’t bless you unless you earn it leads to pride because when you succeed, you’ll tend to attribute the success entirely to your own efforts.
This attitude is dealt with in Deuteronomy 8:17–18 where it says, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today” (NIV).
Although success does require effort and skill development, you have to remember who gave you the power to get where you are today. You have success not because you’re better than everyone else. You need to take action, yes, but your success is ultimately the result of God’s favour.
Let’s realize the favour we have and always give God the glory!