On his or her deathbed, the person that the world considers successful will have a huge amount of wealth, and a large family. This person will have left behind a legacy and have honor with those who have yet to join the grave. Yet sadly for these ones the saying rings true; he who dies with the most toys is still dead. And in the pursuit of worldly success this person has given up eternal life.
Let’s sum up from beginning to end what a successful life looks like to the world:
- In my childhood and in my teenage years I grow up in school, making the grades.
- I chase after a good college by studying hard to get in. I succeed and I get in.
- In my early to mid twenties I make the grades in college to chase after a good career and I get one.
- In my late twenties I chase after good money in my career and I get it. Now I can also be admired by my friends, which feels great.
- At the same time I chase after an attractive spouse and get one, and chase after a big house and get it.
- In my thirties I chase after a good family, good children, and continue to work excessive hours to bring home the big bucks.
- In my forties and fifties I dedicate myself to storing away a good retirement, and somehow manage to preserve my marriage in the mean time.
- In my sixties I chase after the world by traveling and trying to fill my eyes with all it has to see.
- In my seventies and eighties I eat healthier than I ever have in an attempt to preserve my life and save what I have left.
- At the end of my life I lie in bed, look back at my life and wonder where the time went.
- I enter into eternity and five minutes into it I see what a waste of a life I’ve had.
Here’s what the ‘successful’ Christian life looks like (It’s much simpler, for Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden is light (Mat 11:30)):
- In my childhood I learn about Christ.
- In my teenage years I chase after Christ.
- In my twenties and thirties I chase after Christ.
- In my thirties and forties I chase after Christ.
- In my fifties and sixties I chase after Christ.
- In my old age, I still chase after Christ.
- I enter into eternity and meet the Lord Jesus. He says to me, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
There’s a sentence written on a tombstone in Scotland which was meant to give us who are living some perspective: “Reader one moment stop and think, that I am in eternity and you are on the brink."
All we have is one short life to prepare for eternity. God Himself calls this life as short as a vapor (Jam 4:14). Ask yourself this question, “what will I wish I had done thousands and millions of years from now?” A life of worldly pursuit brings an eternity of regret. Be wise! Think about what is good to spend your life seeking after. Those years of free time I’ve wasted away I’m never getting back. What if the degree of our fellowship with God in eternity were determined by the effort we sought Him today?! Seek the Lord with all you have in you. Deny the temptation to chase after money and worldly success. We Christians must give up chasing after what we want (I mean, what our flesh wants) and then chase after the Lord Jesus Christ. We must get caught up with the "pursuit of Christ" instead of the "pursuit of happiness." Is the Lord your only desire? He's got to be everything in your life. This is the one and only successful Christian life and it can be summed up in two steps: first to give up what we want, and then to chase after Jesus because He is now our only desire. In other words, deny yourself... and then follow Him.
"And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luk 9:23)