Your Definition of Success is.....?

This past fall, since August, our men at New Beginnings have been studying the book "The Resolution for Men". One of the chapters, Chapter 7, "Resolve to Bless Your Children", asks the questions, "what should success look like for your children? Do they know? Have you told them or talked about it? Have they seen you modeling it yourself?"

The web site Successories.com has a large assortment of products with suggestions for how to achieve success, using posters with eye catching imagery and inspiring quotes. They have inspirational items for your desk to motivate and to remind you of how successful you are and/or to remind you what you need to do to be successful or how you need to act to be successful. Here is one of their best selling posters regarding "Achievement". The quote underneath the beautiful picture reads, "Shoot for the Moon.Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

If you read on in the chapter, "Resolve to Bless Your Children", the author answers the question of "what should success look like for your children?. For some reason, he never mentioned, "check out this link to the Successories.com web site to find your answer."

       "When Moses stood before the nation of Israel to give his final speech before he died, he boldly redefined success for them. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:5) Jesus later referred to this as the greatest commandment of all time. Through this, God is calling us to do the greatest thing(to love) toward the greatest One(God Himself) in the greatest way (with all that we are). If anyone finds worldly fame and prosperity but misses out on this, he actually misses everything. It is God's will that we love Him, obey Him and live for Him. He should always be our greatest priority. 
        But not only is this how we define success for ourselves; this is how we are called as fathers to define success for our children and grandchildren. To see them living for Christ and making Him known through their lives is infinitely more important than their success on the ball field or in the classroom, more important than any award they may receive, more important than landing an impressive job or making a lot of money. 
         To love God and do His will is to succeed in life. Period."
         But this message is more than just information for our kids to download or a sentence for us to say one or two times and hope they get it. Moses told us precisely how to instill this truth into our children's lives:
          "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

 
"What should success look like for your children? Do they know? Have you told them or talked about it? Have they seen you modeling it yourself?"

Shoot for the Moon? or (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)?
 

 Terry Langenberg
Twitter: TheLangenberg
Facebook: TheLangenberg