This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; . . . that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: . . . then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8.

I admire those who succeed in life. But what do we mean by "success"? We can hardly apply the word in a spiritual sense to a man who is good on the trapeze, or to a skilled car driver, or to one who knows the right clothes to wear. We would not want to apply the word to men with low ideals. As the Bible uses it, one needs to get behind the scenes into the secret chambers of a man's life. For it is possible that here one may find nothing but failure.

Men rarely apply the word "success" to Jesus Christ. He met few of the objectives men usually admire. He was despised and rejected of men. There was no beauty in Him that man should desire Him. Yet no man has so affected the destiny of mankind for good and for eternity. All that the artists have painted through the centuries cannot begin to communicate His grandeur. In Him is the sum of all that God intended man to be: in purity, in love, in kindness, in justice, in courage, in wisdom, in humility, and in unselfishness.

For the Christian, what is a successful life? It is a life approved of God, a life that endures into eternity, where the character of a man is greater than the deterioration of his body and the passing of time. Success is the triumph of the spiritual and moral character in one's life.

A friend brings a bouquet of roses to the house. The fragrance is unmistakable. We walk through a field of newly cut hay and the odor is distinct and attractive. We drive among the pine trees, and their fragrance fills the air. We collie into the presence of a man who is a loving and lovable Christian. The influence and warmth of that man are unmistakable. Paul speaks of the Corinthian believers as "living epistles."

A man who opens his life fully to Christ cannot possibly be a failure. You can't make a failure out of that kind of man simply because he loses money or position or worldly status or even health. Age, with gray hairs and wrinkles on the face, does not change him. You cannot seduce him. You cannot "imprison" a man who walks with Christ.