Your life on earth is only a tiny fraction of your whole life. So how can success be measured by what ends here?

In this series I've been looking at success the way God defines it, not the way the world does. Today I have to take a step backwards and put a few things in their proper perspective, because everything else we say about success rests on this one truth: life is eternal.

Life Is Eternal, Whether You're a Christian or Not

Man is a spirit, and the spirit of man doesn't die. That's true for every human being, Christian or not. Death is only a point of transition, from life here on earth into the afterlife.

And in the afterlife, life is spent in one of two places: heaven or hell. What decides it is the kind of spirit you carry into the afterlife. If you go in with the corrupt, Adamic spirit, you go to hell. If you go in with a new spirit, one that has been recreated, which is only possible by believing in Jesus Christ, you go to heaven.

Think about how small our time here really is. Scripture asks, "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). Even if a man spent a thousand years on earth, it would be a drop in the ocean of eternity. Yet what he does in that short time determines what the rest of his eternal life will be like.

So Success Has to Be Judged Over Eternity

If life runs from a starting point all the way to infinity, then success has to be judged across that whole timeline, not just the part we can see.

We already understand this about other things in Christianity. The death and resurrection of Jesus works over eternity. That's why people are still giving their lives to Christ today, and will keep doing so for as long as the earth remains. His atonement wasn't just for one generation.

Success is measured the same way. When God looks at what we do here on earth, He's looking at the result it has in eternity, and how long its effect lasts in His kingdom, a kingdom that continues long beyond this planet.

God Is a Spirit, and Only a Renewed Spirit Can Reach Him

The One who judges success is God, and "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24). To know what success really is, we need access to Him, because He made everything and He's the one who tells us what He wants us to achieve.

Man is spirit, soul and body. When a person receives Jesus Christ, his spirit is renewed, and that renewed spirit can access God directly. He comes into oneness with God, into sonship. Because of that relationship, his mind begins to change, and whatever changes in his mind shows up in what he does with his body.

The natural man is the opposite. He was also created by God, but because of sin and Adam's disobedience, the connection was broken. God can still speak to him, but there's no relationship. His mind is shaped by what he's received from the devil and the world, and that's where he makes his decisions from.

Talent, Riches and Fame Are Not the Scorecard

Here's where it gets interesting. Both of these men, the Christian and the non-Christian, live on the same planet. Both have careers, talents, skills, and maybe money.

It's very possible for the non-Christian to be hugely successful with his talent. He could be an athlete with gold medals to his name, and riches to go with them. That's because God, in His mercy, "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). He has placed principles in nature that anyone can work with, like sowing and reaping: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest... shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Whoever is diligent and excellent will reap something.

He may even be a philanthropist. And serving humanity is good. Feeding people and helping them live is good, and it may even give them more chances to meet Jesus.

But no matter how moral a person is, his motive can never come completely from a place of love, because "God is love" (1 John 4:8). You can't truly understand or express love without access to Love Himself. Somewhere, even if he can't see it, there's a selfish motive.

God has set up a kingdom that is bigger than humanity. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). That kingdom is what He has commanded us to invest in. What God is most concerned about is the spirit of man and how it can be redeemed, because you can help someone live for eighty years, but if they die without Christ, they're still lost.

The Motive Makes All the Difference

Much of what the natural man builds still affects God's kingdom indirectly. Platforms like Facebook and YouTube weren't created with the gospel in mind, yet churches stream on them and Christians use them to share the Word every day. Whatever good a person does will somehow touch the kingdom of God.

When a Christian does the same work, though, it affects the kingdom directly, because he has God in mind while doing it. Two people can build the same banking solution and make money from it. One does it to spend on himself and his family. The other does it so the increase can come back into the kingdom of God.

The Christian's motive is love, and obedience to God's instruction. Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel, so whether it's convenient or not, the renewed man carries it out. That's the life of obedience.

And even for the Christian, motives will be tested:

"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." (1 Corinthians 3:13, KJV)

Works done from selfish motives will burn. Works that remain will be rewarded. Still, Paul rejoiced when some preached Christ even from wrong motives, saying, "whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice" (Philippians 1:18). He wasn't the judge. God is.

How God Keeps Score

Picture God's scoring chart for judgment day. Every person has a spirit, a soul and a body, and each gets a score. Everyone will be judged.

The gate pass to the kingdom of God is the spirit. Our current bodies aren't what we'll enter with. "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53). To receive that new body, you need the new spirit, the new life. As Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

The non-Christian doesn't have that gate pass. So everything he did with his mind and body, the fame, the money, the breakthrough that helped humanity, can't be rewarded, because he can't enter the kingdom where the rewards are given. That's not because God is wicked. It's a principle. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36). "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

The Christian, though, enters the kingdom first by the new life, and then his works are judged and rewarded.

Think about the thief on the cross. He had no works to show, yet Jesus told him, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Salvation is by faith. He entered the kingdom, even with no reward for works. That is a far better place to be than to have a name everyone remembers, years of achievement in tech or fashion, and a spirit that was never renewed.

A Practical Takeaway

So here's what I want you to carry with you today:

• Make sure of the new life first. Everything else follows from a renewed spirit. If you haven't received Jesus Christ, that's the first step to real success.
• Check your motives. Before you start a project, ask, "Am I doing this with God's kingdom in mind, from love and obedience?"
• Invest in what lasts. Use your career, talents, skills and money to build something that outlives you in God's kingdom.
• Measure your days by eternity. When you ask whether today was a success, ask what it added to forever.

I believe the Holy Spirit will make all of this even clearer to you as you meditate on it.

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God bless you,
Michael Adegoke