Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, "Love your neighbors as yourself."  Matthew 22:37-38

Recently, I was watching a Christian television program where a very successful man was being interviewed. Born into a family of migrant workers, as a child he worked on farms picking fruit. When he wanted to go to college, only one school would accept him and give him that opportunity. Not only did this college accept him, they waived the $10 registration fee that he could not afford. Years later, this gentleman went back to that university and gave them a check for ten million dollars. He told them that he remembered the ten dollars that they gave him, now he wanted to give them a check for ten million. Here is what this man said when asked what the keys to his success have been:

• If you put God first, you will never come in second
• Be nice to people. Treat people how you want to be treated and you will always win. Be careful how you treat strangers because they may be angels in disguise. Treat everyone fairly. Don't ever look down on people unless you are picking them up.
• Never discard people. God has a lot of diamonds in the rough. Imagine how many people walked past Jesus when He was doing carpentry work in His hometown and never saw His greatness.
• Do the right thing. If there is an old lady, help her cross the street. If there is a young lady, open the door for her. Do right in the little things and God will trust you with the bigger things.
• The key principle in business is you have got to work. Refuse to let anyone out work you. He said that few people are willing to work 24 hours a day but he will.
• Remember who gave you what you have. "But for God I wouldn't have a dime." Don't ever forget that.
• To succeed in life you must, put God first, work hard, never give up and never quit.

As we read the keys to this man's success, we can clearly see that he has lived his life following 3 key principles - Put God first, love your neighbor as yourself and work hard.

The first commandment that the Lord gave was this:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.  Exodus 20:2-3

Now read what Jesus answered when asked what the greatest commandment is:
Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, "Love your neighbors as yourself."  Matthew 22:37-38

There is much written in the bible about hard work, here is a wise proverb from Solomon, the richest man who ever lived.
All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.  Proverbs 14:23

God wants us to put Him first, love others as ourselves and work hard. When we do, we will always come out ahead.