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Success is all about perspective. If this life is all there is, then the world's got it pretty much right: Grab as much as you can while you can grab it, because in the end we're all just worm food. The successful one is the one left standing at the top of the biggest heap of wealth when the dust settles. But this is a hopeless, fleeting perspective. If, however, this life is the dress rehearsal for eternity, that changes everything. In that case, success in this life is all about preparing for the new one.

Key Study Passage:

1 Peter 1:13-17

1. What does it mean to "live as God's obedient children" (v. 14)?
2. What can you do to keep from "slip[ping] back into your old ways of living" (v. 14)?
3. How does seeing ourselves as "foreigners in the land" (v. 17) change the way we live here?
4. Spend some time with God, asking him to reveal any ways that you are pursuing a false picture of success.
5. Think about some ways you can pursue holiness and success as God defines it.

Spend Time in Prayer: Ask God to show you what true success looks like; thank him for being a God who rewards a faithful, obedient heart.

1 Peter 1:13-17

A Call to Holy Living

13 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy."

17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as "foreigners in the land."

Copyright © 2013 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Father, help me to define success the way you do; remind me that the only opinion that ultimately matters is yours.

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