What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 17 Apr, 2010 10:07 AM
A friend recently said: "Some of God's great men look very successful, and some of them seem very unassuming. Others appear to have failed in their pursuits. But what they have in common is that they aggressively pursued what God place on their hearts to do with their lives."
So, I wonder; how do we know that we have been successful? How do we measure our success? What determines if we are a success or a failure?
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 17 Apr, 2010 05:28 PM
We need to be "rich" in our character. It's the only thing we're taking to heaven. A poor man can have a golden character...and a rich man can have a slimy one.
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 17 Apr, 2010 06:19 PM
Success is running the race well:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God," (Hebrews 12:1-2, NIV).
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained," (Philippians 3:12-16, NIV).
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace," (Acts 20:24, NIV).
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize," (1 Corinthians 9:24, NIV).
How do we determine if we are successful? I think the answer is two-fold:
1. Are we doing what God asks of us?
"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames," (1 Corinthians 3:10-15, NIV).
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,'" (Matthew 16:24-28, NIV).
"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: ''Love the Lord your God with all your 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 neighbor as yourself,''" (Matthew 22:34-39, NIV).
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age,'" (Matthew 28:18-20).
"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did," (1 John 2:3-6, NIV).
"And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love," (2 John 1:5-6, NIV).
2. Are we finding our righteousness in God alone, trusting in His sovereignty, and placing our hope in Him?
"I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all," (Ecclesiastes 9:11, NIV).
Despite our best efforts, we will fail. We are unable to be successful on our own. Sanctification is a process; we are not glorified until the consummation of our redemption, when Jesus takes us home to be with Him. We must submit our weaknesses and failures to Him and let Him use them for His glory. And we must realize that our righteousness is found in Him alone and not in our works (even if we are successful by the world's standards).
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him," (2 Corinthians 2:14, NIV).
"Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," (2 Corinthians 2:4-6, NIV).
"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong," (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NIV).
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do," (Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV).
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith," (2 Timothy 4:7).
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 17 Apr, 2010 09:46 PM
This to me shows how to obtain success, as well as suggests that success is being obedient to God [definition of success].
1 Kings 2:3 "And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:"
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 20 Apr, 2010 06:47 AM
Being successful to me is not following what my flesh wants to do but what God wills for my life. Having a strong relationship with Him, being careful to do everything that He wants me to do, through prayer and His written word.
My personal key to prosperity and success was given to me through this scripture and I applied it to my life.
This book of law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (Josh. 1:8).
Time with God, meditating on His word everyday helps me to stay strong in Him. Doing what pleases God gives my heart great joy and is the meaning to my success.
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 20 Apr, 2010 10:21 AM
I think you first have to be clear about what you understand by the term "sccess", gracegrace. Your initial posting gives me the feeling you mean something positive by it. I do not think success does necessarily fit into positive or negative, it can be both. For me, success is meeting your aims. If your aim is to become whealthy with a business you start and you finally can pile up a certain whealth, you are sucessful. Now this can b a good or bad thing according to how you make your money. If your business is to kill people or be a robber, being successful is nothing positive, at least not for people other than you.
I think this is why some of God's great man look successful, because they have success in doing good things while others seems to have failed their pursuits. It isn't about what we want or think we have to do. There is no such thing as success in faith, faith is granted by God because of His incredibly great grace.
Being successful means nothing. Even if it's success in a positive way, because after all, all our greatness depends on God, so this is hardly our success, but His success if there are great men.
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 20 Apr, 2010 11:20 AM
To be successful
You ask how do we determine if we are successful.
I wonder IF we NEED to be successful at all before God.
We are never being judged upon our works or deeds. Even if we do perfect good works, still we fall short in the glory of God. If we would be judged by His standards of being successful we would all be rejected. That is why God sent His Son to earth: because there is not one righteous (successful) in this world. Not one!
Even knowing all this, we sometimes think it does not apply to us. We think that we can walk with God and do His Will and do good, make a difference.
Trouble begins when we start to think that we have to become successful. Soon enough we are being successful for our own glory (charity etc). And it becomes worse when we start thinking that we are more successful than others. And it becomes dead wrong when we think that we can come to Father without Jesus, because we have such a vast curriculum with good and successful accomplishments...
I truly think that success is one of those words that christians can delete from their vocabulary. It is, in my opinion, the one thing we really do not have to be.
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 20 Apr, 2010 04:34 PM
My Dad's life was a success. He passed away last week.
He left behind six children. All believers. 16 grandchildren, all who are above 5 years of age are believers.
His oldest daughter is married to a minister, and together they travel the world promoting missions. They spent the first half of their lives as educators in Christian Schools, along with serving as pastor of churches.
The next daughter leads evangelical services for children in a CATHOLIC church in New Jersey. She writes wonderful devotional comments for the rest of her brothers and sisters and reminds us of songs that speak the truth, and is always sharing the Scriptures with us.
The next is a son who is a pastor, with eleven children, all of whom are believers, married to believers. He writes and edits and helps many people.
The next is a daughter, with two children who are believers. She lives in Florida and works in a Christian University there. She is also a writer, and artist, who has produced much Christian Literature, especially for youth. She was a major player in a home school organization.
Then a son who is a writer, with a son who is a believer. This son is a writer and minister who has nurtured hundreds of believers into a deep walk with the Lord. Many of the people to whom he has ministered over the past 30 years are now in ministry themselves, leading worship, writing, teaching, counseling, leading men's ministry, caring for abused women.
Then a son is a hard worker who is a servant to others. He doesn't write, but he serves. He cared for his Daddy for 15 years, spending time with his Daddy several times a week over those many years, and over the final months of Daddy's life, he was with him nearly EVERY DAY, for hours and hours, often sleeping in a recliner next to his father. He is a great demonstration of Christ-like serving.
THE father of these six children is the paragon of success. He left behind very little in worldly property, but the wealth of a godly family made him a great success. THAT is success.
WOW! Floodnut, I want to stand and applaud your dad! What a wonderful, awe-inspiring testimony!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
What is success? or How do we determine if we are successful?
Posted : 20 Apr, 2010 09:37 PM
Floodnut... thank you for sharing... AWESOME. After reading that I can say success is not anything of physical things attained here on this earth, but the spiritual remnant of what we leave behind here... a measure of the fruit we bore building into God's kingdom, and leaving a legacy of seed here to continue the work of God as long as the earth remains. Our testimony in our walk with Christ is success. As a Christian, our success is not monetary but of a spiritual nature and all to do about our application of living out God's word. There is evidence, as we could see by example in Floodnuts' sharing of his family and the very evidence of kingdom building in the lives of that family. The foundation was laid, seeds planted and sprouted paving the way for others to follow the same. That is success, and that is what God wants us to do during our time here. ~GraceMae
