John 5:28-29 (MSG)
What is the definition of success?
The dictionary definition of success infers, “To achieve your goals or aims, or to turn out as expected.”
For the athlete, to win a competition with medals is a measure of success.
For the business owner, it’s to make profits while meeting needs. For the student, it’s to pass exams very well. For the parents, it’s to raise children to become responsible adults.
When we think of life beyond death, and we see death as a transition point, our perspective about life changes.
This will radically improve the quality of the decisions we make.
When we consider the story of Lazarus and the rich man, we would ask, Who was more successful while on earth?
Who was more successful while they crossed to the other side?
Success is the achievement of goals. But whose goal is really most important? The ones we set for ourselves, or the one God sets for us.
One we will all stand before God to give an account of our lives.
When you are thinking of your goals and the achievements of them, you have to reevaluate and constantly check to confirm whose goals you are achieving.
Are you achieving your goals, or are you achieving God’s goals for your life?
Hebrews 9:27-28 (NLT)
Each person is destined to die once, and then judgement comes next.
Two judgements to be considered:
- The judgement seat of Christ: Romans 14:10-12 (NLT) The life you are living is not yours. You are going to give an account of it. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (AMP). Whatever you do on earth, whether you are a believer or not, has implications for eternity.
This judgement is when we are rewarded according to the quality of use of our time, resources and abilities as believers. The critical success factor will be the purity of the motives, reasons, and desires with which we have served God.
- The white throne judgement: Revelation 20:11-14 (NLT) Those who rejected God and His gift of salvation will have to spend their eternity away from Him. As believers, we have nothing to fear, because God would do anything to keep us aware on how to escape the consequences of evil.
John 5:28-29 (MSG)
At the end of everything we do in life, God is the one who will decide who was successful and who was not. It’s good to set and accomplish goals, but the person that sets a goal for us to be born has a purpose
Regardless of what we have acquired and the accolades of men, everything will be measured side by side with God’s plan and purposes for your life.
What will stand is the goal that God has made for your lives. Make it your goal to please God.
An excerpt from a sermon by Pastor Boye Oloyede, Sunday, June 25, 2023
