In the world's system we are taught all about the world's lust, the world's greed, and the world's covetousness. As a result, we get caught up in a system, which eventually causes us to fall down and hurt ourselves.

When you start thinking and acting like the world, you begin trying to accumulate all the things the world accumulates. Then you start measuring whether you are a success by the world's standards instead of God's standard.

You see, God's standard is not based on success in this world, whether you have three cars, or live in a mansion in the suburbs, or have a college degree, or see your name printed often in the newspaper. With God, none of these things equals success.

When you get wrapped up in the world's system and the world's covetousness, then instead of acting upon God's promises to you, you begin to think the world's way. What happens when you do that? You start putting pressure on yourself to obtain the things of this world.

Let me give you a real-life example. As a pastor I have seen this occur many times, in both males and females. I will use an example from the female side of life. Many times over the years when counseling married couples, I have found that the woman has lost respect for the man.

Because of that, she no longer sees him the same as when they were first married. At the beginning, he was her prince and he could do no wrong. When he came home to her, she never had rollers in her hair. She always wanted to look good for him.

But somewhere along the way, she lost respect for him. I have seen myriads of cases like this. That's why I use it as an example. She becomes angry with him because he has not met the standard she expected, based upon the things she has seen accomplished by her girlfriends' husbands.

Her husband might be a professional man, maybe even a schoolteacher. Though schoolteachers are not poverty-stricken, they certainly do not make $100,000 a year. Maybe he has his Bachelor's Degree and has done all the things necessary to have that teaching job.

He probably makes $25,000-$30,000 a year. But her girlfriends' husbands are managers or in some other fields. They might not have as much education as her husband, but they make more money.

So what happens? She looks at their homes. She compares their cars. She hears how they went away to some fancy place on their vacation. Her husband only gets time off for three days, while her friends can go away for a whole month. She compares things by looking at them in the world's way.

I have counseled situations like this many a day, and I see what has happened. The husband is doing all he can. In fact, he has done the right thing by going to school and bettering himself. He is a professional, but in his profession he can only go so far. There is a cap, a ceiling, a limit on the salary he can receive in that job.

So he is under pressure to give up his profession. The reason he went into it was because he loved it. But he may have to give up his profession in order for his wife to care for him again. And that's wrong!

This is a real-life example of what the Bible is talking about in Second Peter 1:4. When we have placed in ourselves the attributes of God, we will not view our spouse that way, whether husband or wife. These days guys want women to make as much as they make, or more. At one time, only the woman decided if she would marry a man based on his income. Now the man decides to marry based on the woman's income.

When people have the wrong idea, stress comes against the marriage. Problems develop, causing a breakup, and divorce comes as a result. Those people have been corrupted in the world's idea of lust and covetousness. They have to keep up with the Joneses.

But that's not what God teaches His people.

God does not teach us to view our spouse and success based upon any such criteria. If we do, we will only stumble and fall, and we will be destroyed because of it.

Sometimes in those situations, husbands or wives see another person who is more successful than their spouse. After a while, they become friends with that person and say, "I sure wish my husband or wife was like you."

Right then they become open to temptation in that area. Eventually, they will stumble or fall in their Christian walk. Why? Because they were caught by the world's corruption through lust.

As we read from The Amplified Bible: "By means of His precious and exceedingly great promises you may escape the moral decay, lust, and greed, and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

We are to take on those precious and exceedingly great promises, learning more about the nature of our heavenly Father and of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We then add to our faith the seven virtues given in Verses 5-7, until these things be in you, and abound (v. 8).

We will then be able to see our spouse the way we should - through the love of God. We will appreciate our spouse and be grateful for what he or she is doing. That's what God teaches us.

As a result, we will not end up somewhere down the road in lust and greed. We will stay steady on our feet and will neither stumble nor fall.

Source: Success Strategies From Heaven by Keith Butler.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers