I once heard someone say that, “Success is finding out what God is doing and doing it with Him.” I love that! Proverbs 19:21 would agree with that statement and says it this way:
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
In the simplest terms this proverb tells us that no matter what happens in life, God will get His way every time. We can do what we want to do, the way we want to do it and even have success by other people’s standards, but if God’s not a part of it then it’s not real success.
Real success, that is, success from God’s point of view, is measured differently than our everyday human perspective. God measures success not in a temporal manner, but in an eternal manner. If something doesn’t have good eternal consequences then it is not real success. Real success last forever, not for just a few years or even for a lifetime.
The greatest success of all time can be seen in the cross of Christ. Even though He only spent six hours on the cross (and I don’t mean to down play the great agony and suffering He went through), what Christ did in six hours has eternal consequences for every person who will be in heaven. In six hours Christ paid for the eternal life of everyone who will accept Him. Now, that’s real success!
In the same way, we should willingly seek God and willingly follow God’s advice. By doing so, we can spend our time in a manner that will also have eternal consequences for ourselves, as well as, for other people. For example, if we share the love of God with someone and they accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, then the time we spent will have eternal consequences for them because they will live forever, and for us because we will be there with them forever.
If we spend our time on earth being loving and kind and telling others about God’s goodness, then we’ll be doing things that will make our life here and now better, and we’ll be laying up treasure for ourselves in heaven for all eternity. I know we would all like to be rich here on earth, but wouldn’t it be better to be rich for all eternity? Of course it would.
The easiest way to think of it is like this; if I sow eternal seeds, that is, if I do things led by the Holy Spirit of God on a daily basis, then I will be building up my eternal bank account and I will reap an eternal blessing. If I do things that are not led by the Spirit of God, then I may benefit for a short time in this life, but I will be bankrupt so to speak in the next life.
For me this is a no brainer. We should all live in such a manner that both this present life and the eternal life are profitable. We should get up each morning, ask God what He would like for us to do that day and then do it. We will never go wrong following the Lord’s leading. Remember, what ever God does always succeeds and if we do it with Him we will also succeed.
My prayer for you today is that you will seek God and find Him, and that you will see what He is doing and do it with Him. I pray that you will follow God in being patient and kind to all people. I pray you will forgive others just as He forgave you. And I pray that you will be an encourager to everyone you come into contact with today and everyday. May we all put away the words of criticism and the actions that tear down others, and begin to love and build up like our Heavenly Father!
You are the one God loves and you are the one God longs to love through! Be blessed!
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