Ultimately, true success in life must be measured in terms of personal significance. As far as you can determine, how much of an impact is your life having? How many people are you positively affecting? What personal flaws and limitations have you managed to overcome throughout your career on earth? In what ways does your life glorify God and reflect His attributes and character?
Questions of this type are the ones we must ask ourselves when trying to measure the success that we have truly achieved in the world. Accumulating large amounts of money or not, reaching the top of our profession or acquiring fame or great social prestige is totally secondary. It's not that these things are despicable or that they don't matter. It is simply that they are not the most important thing when we try to measure the meaning of our lives.
God measures the greatness of an individual in terms of the size of his heart, the quality of his inner being - his ability to love, give, make himself fragile, or have compassion on others. When God visits men to examine their worth, He does not look at their body size, the attractiveness of their face, their athletic prowess, or their social status. I imagine you don't even look at their level of intelligence, the achievements they have achieved or the degree of culture they have acquired! He seeks, I am sure, to see himself reflected in them. To what degree do they express the beauty of His holiness? To what extent have you managed to include the qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance in your personality profile? How much do you love and yearn to please you?
The Bible makes it clear to us that “Jehovah does not look at what man looks at; for man looks at what is before his eyes, but Jehovah looks at the heart. " 2 Chronicles 16: 9 declares: "For the eyes of Jehovah gaze upon all the earth, to show his might in behalf of those having a perfect heart toward him." Take care of your heart "because life flows from it." Make sure that when God looks at you He is pleased with what He finds. If you achieve this, then you will have achieved true success.
See also part 1 of this meditation on success: "
True success - being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ "