The Secret To Successful Living

From him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Everyone wants to live a life of success. No one gets out of bed in the morning with the goal of being a failure. So how do we live a successful life? We live for what we were made to live for . . . and His name is Jesus Christ.

I have written here before that when Adam and Eve rebelled against God and chose to live for their own glory, rather than the glory of God, they denied their own humanity. Our first parents were made to live for the glory of God, and they would only be fully human when they were living for God’s glory. God created us for the purpose of glorifying His beloved Son, Jesus Christ; the Westminster Shorter Catechism states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We will lives of meaning, purpose, significance, and success only when we are living for the expansion of the kingdom of God. It is only when we are doing all things for the glory of God with every breath we take and with every beat of our heart that we are doing what we were created and designed by God to do.

This state of being is called transcendence. Transcendent living is living for the One who created you. Each day we find ourselves in the middle of a battle between two kingdoms: the kingdom of the self and the kingdom of the Savior. When we are living our lives for the kingdom of Christ and investing our time, our talent, and our treasure into that end, we are living successful lives.

How is it with you? What have you been living for lately? Is Jesus sitting on the throne of your life? Or have you been taking up residence there? We are never more fully alive than when we are living for the glory of God in all that we think, do, say, and desire. To be sure, we will never do this perfectly on this side of the grave. Throughout this life there will be that ongoing battle deep within our hearts. But when living for the Savior is the deepest desire of our heart, we can be sure that, even when we mess things up, we have found the secret to successful living. It’s worth the fight to get there!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!