The Baptist Digest

Success And Significance

August 2007

“It’s easy to make a buck, it’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”  ~ Tom Brokaw

The course of your life is determined by the relationships you form, the decisions you make, and the actions you take. Each has the potential to change the course of your life.

If you are not doing something with your life, it doesn’t matter how long you live. For that matter, if you are doing something with you life, it doesn’t matter how long it is either. Although we can measure the number of years in a person’s life, success and significance are not measured in terms of years lived.

John Maxwell, noted leadership author and motivational speaker, has said that “success is when I add value to myself.” Certainly in our society efforts to continue our education, add to our physical prowess and general health, as well as improving the ability to articulate one’s self would be considered ‘value adding’ actions. We can all point to people, both living and dead, who are good examples of people who were successful because of actions such as these.” And yet these examples of adding value to ourselves don’t add up to success.

Success in life is achieved through building relationships.

Some of us will face a retirement ceremony as I did where I listened as someone read a list of activities, accomplishments and perceived successes that were credited to me over my years of service. As the reading went on the names and faces of people came to my mind. God reminded me that any success I had enjoyed was more a compilation of the investments that others had made in me than from my own contributions.

Significance is achieved through serving others.

Consider the words of Linda Ellis, author of The Dash – Making a Difference with Your Life:

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend,

He referred to the dates on her tombstone from beginning to end,
He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but said what mattered most of all …
was the dash between the years.

To make a difference, the focus of your life must be committed to giving, loving, serving, helping, encouraging, and adding value to others.
I recently witnessed this kind of significance as I visited the flood disaster area in Coffeyville Kansas. There I found church and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers working together to comfort, encourage, and minister to Coffeyville residents who had evacuated their homes in the wake of recent floods.

Such is the truth behind making a difference.

“… let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us …”
Hebrews 12:1

For stimulating and thought provoking reading, check out “Leaders that Last” by Kinnaman and Ells.

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I thought you might like this column I read at baptistdigest.com. "Success And Significance" “It’s easy to make a buck, it’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”  ~ Tom Brokaw The course of your life is determined by the relationships you form, the decisions you make, and the actions you take. Each has the potential to change the course of your life.  If you are not doing something with your life, it doesn’t matter how long you live. For that matter, if you are doing something with you life, it doesn’t matter how long it is either. Although we can measure the number of years in a person’s life, success and significance are not measured in terms of years lived. You can read the rest here: http://www.baptistdigest.com/archive/column/success_and_significance/