Let’s get straight to the point this morning as I present an important question: are you living for success or significance? What motivates you (assuming that you are motivated) in who you are becoming and what you are doing? Look below and see that ancient King Solomon declares that inner character which leads to a solid public reputation is more valuable than a burgeoning financial portfolio.
“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.” – Proverbs 22:1
Why then do so few live in this manner? An honest evaluation of people that you are familiar with would likely allow you to conclude that consumerism is more important to them than character. Long, hard, diligent effort is expended in achieving success in this world. Sixty hour work weeks often yield great results in an individual’s career. Prior to that there was four to eight years of educational preparation in order to secure the best platform from which to dive into the pool of success. Bigger houses are waiting to be purchased. The new 2015 models of SUV’s and other 8-cylinder toys will be available in a few short months – who will be the first to drive one off the lot even while the calendar still reads 2014? Have you checked the brightness of your bling this week – your homeboy’s earrings are out-studding your own! You’re not wearing last year’s line of boots are you, ladies? Our children are spending quadruple the amount of time in sports than they are in the Scriptures (that’s a verrrrrry conservative estimate). Cosmetic enhancement is still a lucrative business for surgeons – even in a dwindling economy. Narcissism and the lust for beauty will pump vigorously through the veins of the vain until the last page of the age. The American dream is becoming the American mirage – something better hangs always before you on the horizon but is never exactly what it appears to be from a distance. This type of success is a mist that you will never be able to hold on to as you try to stuff it in your pockets.
Significance, however, is available to any and all who will pursue it. If something is significant it will remain so. The thought that we least succeed in latching onto is this: the final score is not properly ascertained until you cross your finish line. Only in eternity future will the appropriate scales be brought forth to weigh the value of our lives. I have literally trembled at times because of this thought. What are we doing to tilt the scales with the weight of the significance of our lives? If what we posses defines the level of our success then it is what we do with what we have defines the level of our significance. I might have $100,000.00 in my wallet. Because of this I might very well be deemed a success by the standards of this world. God’s standard, however, dictates that we wait and see what is done with that hundred grand before gauging my significance. Hollywood stars are known by millions and therefore people attribute success to them; I would rather we evaluate what is known about them before we label them as significant. The investment of one’s life is really the determining factor of whether we are merely successful or significant. Quite simply put, we should seek to know if we are making a difference that brings present benefit and also echoes forward beyond our own lives. As Christians we must impact our generation in some way for Christ. We must invest today for Christ and those whom He loves. We should seek to be a conduit of God’s treasure into His kingdom rather than being a doubly-locked vault of our own treasure as we erect the façade of our own kingdom. If King Solomon is exalting the value of your name as more highly prized than the value of your wealth then does it not stand to reason that we should do the same?
I’m not giving you very many specifics today. I want you to think. I want us to really get still and quiet and ponder these issues to determine if/where/how we are marked by significance. The most significant people that I know are never going to make earth’s headlines. They are anonymous souls who have linked their worth to the person and purposes of Jesus Christ. They have experienced that crystalized moment when the soul says, “Aha! Now I get it – now I know what is the most important essence of life!” They have bowed in lowliness and there they have savored the aroma of loftiness. They have felt the coarse grain of the cross upon their soul and have been enraptured with its awesome glories above the reality of its harsh heaviness. These same saints of God have spit out the foul bile of a corrupt and deceptive world system to drink in the sweet waters of the Christ-life. Their discernment has been sharpened with an HD quality (holy definition, not high definition) – they cannot be tricked again to leap into the numbing waters of success. No sir! They have found the currents of significance to be sufficient to take them into the harbor of God’s good rest. Having committed to significance, why would we ever settle for success?
Dear friend, if you have surrendered gladly to Christ, then mark this: you have not missed it concerning life’s deeper meaning. You are absolutely correct in your calculations. Your significance is in Him today and to be revealed tomorrow in its fullness. Make sure you are there when it happens!