A few years back I gave a graduation speech at a Christian college. I urged the graduates, “Leave here to be successful for God. Get out of this place and be a success. Everything is before you to excel for the glory of God. So go do it!” Judging from the looks I received, I think the “be a success” part of my message irritated a few professors. But I look at it like this: what are our options? I see only three: success, mediocrity, or failure. If I have to pick from those three, I’ll take success every time. But God’s version, not society’s.

Society equates success with achievement, focusing on personal triumphs over goals in the short term. Success, though, has to do with purpose, strategy, and community over the long term. True success has to do with pleasing God and partnering with Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 teaches, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God created specific works for us to do throughout our lives here on earth. If we seek God’s will, He will lead us to those works. The purpose isn’t achievement for its own sake, or for ego. It’s succeeding at what God has prepared for us to do. If we accomplish what God wants, we are successful, and we will influence the world for Jesus Christ.

This is Luis Palau.