Journey into Lightl

One of the positive things I received from my dad was ambition. I wanted to be a success in life. I wanted my life to count.

But I never seemed to be satisfied with my achievements. If I got promoted to one level, it wasn’t long before I was dissatisfied and wanted a higher one.

I thought at one time that if I became a manager, then I would be successful. So, I became a manager–but I failed as a manager because I never seemed to master supervising supervisors.

Currently, I am trying to succeed at writing. I have written a book, and I write this weekly blog. I have set up some standards to measure success- and I am failing to succeed by my standards. But am I failing by God’s standards?

What Is Success?

Solomon is considered the wisest man who ever lived (although he often did not act on his wisdom). He concludes that success in life is respecting God and obeying him (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

Jesus says that success is to do God’s work and to seek to grow spiritually. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

God says through Jeremiah that success is following God’s plans for our life. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT).

It’s not our arbitrary standards that measure our success. It’s not what others think. It’s not the honor and publicity we receive that determines how successful we are. It’s what God thinks.

And how successful he thinks we are will not be known until the Believers’ Judgment that we all will go through to determine our rewards in heaven (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

From this passage, success to God is the extent that he thinks we did the works he wanted us to do, in his power, and for his purposes.

So, what must we do to be successful?

What We Need to Do To Succeed

One thing we can do to succeed in life is to obey God. Not just know the Bible, but also obey the Bible-and the key to obeying the Bible is learning to rely on God who not only instructs us how to live through the Bible, but also empowers us to live it.

Another thing we can do to succeed in life is to learn to trust God, even when we don’t have a clue where he is leading us. Do we want to limit our trust in Almighty God to do only what we can understand?

God says, “Trust Me with all your heart. Don’t trust your understanding. Then, I will lead you into success as I define it.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, paraphrased).

He also instructs us in the Book of Joshua that success comes through meditation on the Bible and obeying it. Reading, hearing, memorizing, and studying it are all good, but until we meditate on the Bible we often don’t hear what God is revealing to us (Joshua 1:8).

A final thought on what we can do to succeed in life is to love and appreciate God for who he is–and then he promises to bless us with success. “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). In the process of delighting in him, he changes our desires to match his and enables us to succeed in attaining them.

My prayer is that you will be a success in life and you won’t be fooled by seeking success in how famous you are, how much money you make, or how big is your ministry.

Instead, may you find success in doing what God wants you to do, relying on him to do it, and for the purpose of furthering his work in the world.