Most of us want to be remembered for something of significance beyond what the world defines as success. That is certainly true for me.
I don’t want to be remembered as someone who didn’t know the difference between earning a great deal of money and being truly rich in life.
I don’t want to be remembered as the successful CEO who left my kids money but forgot to leave them an example of Christian character.
I don’t want to be known as a great communicator in the business arena who forgot to communicate for God.
I realized a few years back that while I had done everything to be a success in my life, I had done almost nothing to get to know and serve God. I finally asked myself, “What kind of a legacy is that?”
When we try managing everything in life, our grip on the steering wheel becomes a death grip. We rob ourselves of all joy as we travel down the road of life. We set ourselves up for that robbery by locking onto the world’s definition of success—prestige, power, position, and possessions, leaving us no choice but to chase “success” it at the expense of the far more important goals centered on our faith. In order to chase what the world considers worthwhile, we must give up what is truly worthwhile.
Peace is not automatic when we trust Christ for our salvation. Peace can only come out of a working relationship with Christ when he sits on the throne of our lives. How can that happen when we are frantically chasing worldly success?
Success according to God’s perspective is not based on our perfection, or on the cosmetic symbols of achievement. We cannot begin assessing our success on that basis. Early in my career, I gave countless motivational speeches telling people pretty much what our speaker I just mentioned told his audience. “Visualize what you want, then go after it. You can do it!”
I can see now that it was all pure nonsense.
“Success” on the worldly track is fleeting. It is always relative to someone or something else, and it is always made irrelevant by another goal striking our fancy. We can try with all our might to keep putting air in the success tire, but it eventually escapes and the tire goes flat, just like our legacy.
This verse below from Philippians measures the depth of our commitment and love for him and our efforts to discern and follow the divine will for our lives:
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding,” the peace that will “guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
What will your legacy be?
