Is your marriage a success?

A marriage can consist of many successes but undoubtedly will experience some challenges. The key is going from one to the other without losing your enthusiasm for your marriage. What do you do to ensure that you and your spouse are having a successful marriage? How often do you evaluate and reevaluate? What do you do if your marriage is not experiencing success?

Streaming Faith Daily Devotionals
Monday, June 25, 2007

Measuring Success by Dr. David C. Cooper
Everyone wants to be successful. The question is how do you measure success? Webster says that success is "a favorable or desired outcome of something attempted; a prosperous or advantageous issue or the attainment of wealth, fame, and so forth."
I like Winston Churchill's definition better: Success is going from one failure to another without losing your enthusiasm. A Gallup Poll conducted on 1,500 prominent people revealed five common traits of successful people- common sense, knowing one's field, self-reliance, general intelligence, and the ability to get things done.
Is that all there is to success? Jesus responds with a heart penetrating question,"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matt 16:26).

There are two sides to the coin of success. First, success means to become the person God created you to be. Success is internal before it is external. It is measured by character not circumstances. God's greatest work is not in what He does for us, but what He does in us: "For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" (Rom 8:29).Theodore Roosevelt said, "If you are not actively pursuing the person you want to be, then you are pursuing the person you don't want to be."
Second, success is a matter of accomplishing what you set out to accomplish. It is reaching for your goals. If you find you have the wrong goals then, change them! If your strategy isn't working, then change it! Success is largely a matter of hard work and determination to accomplish what you set out to do. Don't merely try - do!
As Yoda tells Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, "There is no try, only do!"
Go out and face the challenges of life with the will to win, the desire to succeed and the goal to please the Lord!

Dr. David C. Cooper serves as Senior Pastor of Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta, GA. He received his bachelor's degree from Lee College, his Master of Education from the University of Georgia, and his Doctor of Ministry from Erskine Theological Seminary. Currently, Dr. Cooper serves as chairman of the Board of Directors and as an instructor in Counseling at the Psychological Studies Institute in Atlanta, Georgia.


Signed,
Actively in pursuit of success!