Does Success Matter?Sample

For the Praise of God

The first marker of godly success was to recognize that God has given us everything we need to succeed. The second marker was to use this to pursue growth. The final marker is what gives us the joy God wants us to have. 

When the servants in the Parable of the Talents had the master’s interests in mind, they received the master’s praise (Matthew 25:19-23). This is the third marker of success: we pursue success for the praise of God.

This differs from pursuing success for the praise of man, which does not lead to joy.

The important thing to note about the master praising the two servants is that he gives the same response to both of them—though one had the bigger success. This is the gift we have when we pursue success for the praise of God. He celebrates both the big and little successes.

It is only when we pursue success for the praise of man that the success is weighed as big or small. 

Have you ever stopped yourself from sharing your success with someone else because you weighed it as being small? Or have you ever pushed yourself to pursue more success because the “small” successes before weren’t enough?

If so, pursuing godly success will change everything for you. It’ll give you joy as you celebrate with God both the big and little successes. 

I began this exploration of success because I was studying joy and what the Bible and positive psychology had to say about it. In my study, I defined joy as the internal satisfaction you feel when you pursue well-being and success, even through great difficulty. 

As you can see, joy and success are clearly tied together. Joy requires that you pursue godly success.

So before you continue your pursuit of success, pray this…

“Lord, I recognize that you have given me everything I need to succeed, and I thank you for that. I pray for greater joy as I pursue your interests for your praise.” 

As you pursue this godly success, you’ll find the joy on the other side. 

We hope this Plan encouraged you. Learn more about practical, Biblical joy at https://nealsamudre.com/success/.