Driven by Eternity With John BevereSample

Success That Lasts

Most people want to succeed in life. This desire is placed in each of us by God, because He also wants us to succeed.

Look at Psalm 90:17 again. This prayer of Moses asks God to not once, but twice, “Make our efforts successful.” Hebrew writers didn’t waste words. They didn’t repeat things just to fill in extra space.

In fact, when they did repeat something, it was to intentionally bring emphasis, much in the same way as we might write something in bold, italics, or with all capital letters.

More than that, those words come from God’s holy Word, revealing to us His purpose, heart, and intent for our lives. Yes, God’s desire is to help us be successful! Yet we must remember that God has a much different perspective than ours.

God is eternal. He therefore does not view our lives the same way we often do. He knows that even the longest human life cannot be measured against the immensity of the eternity that waits for us beyond this life. For this reason, God’s definition of success is not our earthly, human definition.

Our world is continually changing. Names are remembered for a time and legacies endure for a season, but history eventually moves on. Even the things we consider to be most certain now will vastly transform or cease to exist only a few hundred years from now.

It is not so with God. He never changes and He never will. From beginning to the end, throughout all eternity, God will remain the same. His standard will never change. His heart toward us will never change. His definition of success will never change.

If we are to truly succeed in life, we must succeed by God’s eternal definition. All other success will one day fail. Only success by God’s definition will endure.