Is the pursuit of success keeping you from living for what matters the most?

This is a question we should all be asking ourselves often as men. One of the greatest temptations in life as a man is to place all your worth and all your validation in your work and in your success on earth.

It’s the easiest place to put your identity. It is one of the easiest places to place all of your time and attention. It is what the world constantly tells you will bring your validation. 

I have been going through a short series about the subtle distractions that the enemy is using to take a man’s focus of off what really matters - living in relationship with God and living for his purposes - and I believe one of those subtle ways the enemy is distracting men today is by getting them only focused on worldly success.

I want to start this off by saying I love helping men chase down their dreams, I love setting big goals, I love having something to pursue, I love trying to help men be productive and efficient and do what they are passionate about. I think those things can be great things. 

But anything, even good things, that distract you from loving God and loving people and living on mission for the Lord, can be problems.

Is your pursuit of success advancing the kingdom of God? Or is it only advancing your kingdom?

I heard someone say “If all your prayers were answered, would the world be a better place or just yours?” 

Wow. That’s a great question to test our motives. I would ask you the same question in your pursuit of success or accomplishing your dreams. If you accomplish your goals, will the world be a better place? Or will only your world be a better place? 

I think the enemy would be totally fine giving you all the worldly success that you desire if it takes your focus away from living for God.

If he can get you so consumed with worldly things that you lose sight of eternal things, he is finding a way to make you ineffective.

You see, he oftentimes knows that if he can’t completely destroy your life or get you to turn your back on God completely, then he will just do what he can to make you ineffective. 

A man that is just focused on himself each day is not a dangerous man. A man that is only seeking validation through material success or worldly success is not a dangerous man.

A dangerous man is someone who gets up everyday ready to live on mission for the Lord. To live for his kingdom and his purposes. A dangerous man to the enemy is someone who is ready to be bold and courageous for the Lord and someone who lives for others instead of themselves. 

When you get up everyday and you intentionally focus your life on loving God and loving people, you become a man that the enemy has to worry about. 

When you get up everyday only focused on building your kingdom and a name for yourself, then you are not a huge threat. 

If you are a follower of God, you have to remember that life on earth is your temporary home. You were made for eternity. Your permanent residence is not here on earth, it is in heaven. When you define success, you have to keep that perspective in mind. 

You can’t take anything with you from this life. I think the only regrets we are going to have when we get to heaven is that we didn’t spend more of our lives focused on God’s purposes and on impacting as many people as possible for the kingdom. 

I lose sight of this all the time. I got sucked into my kingdom all the time. I am naturally pretty self-focused. I am naturally going to spend a lot of time worrying about myself and my problems. I have to be intentional in refocusing my life on a daily basis on what is really going to outlast me and matter for eternity. 

Here is a quick phrase that I use on a consistent basis to keep myself focused on what matters the most. 

Live for Significance Over Success

Success is just about yourself. Significance is about others. I want to live a life of significance. 

One of the best ways to stay focused on what matters is to constantly be looking for ways that you can add more significance to your daily life. 

One of my favorite exercises to do with the guys that I work with is to have them identify ways they can add more significance to their everyday activities. What I mean by significance is just how can you make those activities more about others. How can you impact others while you just go through the activities that you have each day.

At work, how can you inspire and encourage others during the day. In the next meeting, how can you go into it with a mindset that you are going to be about others success more than yours. How can you value the people that you come in contact with? Even in going to the gym, how can you tie that into making a difference in people’s lives? You’re doing it so that you can inspire your family to be healthy, you can lead them well, you can have more energy for your kids, you want to show other men how to take care of themselves, you know that if you don’t have energy, you can’t impact as many people as you’d like.

You can add more significance to any activity in your life. When you are setting goals, ask yourself how this can impact others. Again, will accomplishing your goals only benefit you? Or will it benefit the kingdom and other people as well? 

John Maxwell defines significance as just making a difference with others, wherever you are, with whatever you have, day by day. 

Get up each day with a focus of significance, and you won’t fall into the distraction of success as easily.

Remember when a teacher of the law asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was and he said 

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If your pursuit of success and your pursuit of your dreams is taking you away from doing those two things on a consistent basis, then it might be a distraction in your life.

I know if I don’t intentionally set my focus on those things each and every day, I will start living more for myself. It takes intentionality. It takes being proactive. 

My encouragement to you would be to take some time today and create your definition of success. What does success actually mean to you? How do you know if you are successful or not? Create your definition in light of eternity. 

Become solely focused on how God defines success. Become a dangerous man! Seek first the kingdom. Love God and love others. Live for significance over success. 

I hope today was encouraging and thought-provoking. If you have a cool definition of success that you would like to share, I would love to hear it! If this was helpful for you and you think it might be beneficial for someone else, please share it. 

I’m grateful for the opportunity to be with you today. I believe in you! I know that just by being here, you are a man who wants to be all God has called you to be. I applaud you for investing time into your personal growth today.

Go live a life you are proud of by living intentionally.