Scripture:
“With what shall I come before the Lord , and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6-8
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
John 15:9-17
Devotional Thought:
Micah asks the question every human heart eventually asks: what does God actually want from me? He runs through escalating religious offers — burnt offerings, thousands of rams, even his own child — and then lands on one of the most memorably concise summaries in Scripture: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. These are not impressive achievements. They are a posture — the daily orientation of a life that is genuinely good, deeply human, and rightly ordered toward God. They describe not what you do for a career but who you are in your ordinary moments. How you treat the person who can do nothing for you. Whether you are honest when dishonesty would be convenient. Whether you show up, day after day, in the quiet and unglamorous places of faithfulness.
Jesus closes John 15 with a word that synthesizes everything: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Godly success is not a somber obligation. It is the pathway to complete joy. The life that loves God and loves people, that acts justly and walks humbly, that invests its talents and finishes its race — that life is the most joyful life available to a human being.
We end this series on success where all good things end: in the words of Jesus. “You are my friends.” “I have loved you.” “Remain in my love.” The greatest success is not what you built or acquired or achieved. It is that you walked with the God who made you, loved the people He gave you, and at the end of the road, heard the words that make every sacrifice worth it: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
That is a life worth living.
Reflection Questions:
1. As you reflect on this entire series, what shift in your definition of success feels most important for you personally?
2. What does a life characterized by justice, mercy, and humble walking with God look like specifically for you in this season?
Application:
Write a letter to yourself — to be opened in one year — describing the life of godly success you are committing to build. Be specific about the relationships, habits, and choices that will define your path forward. Seal it and put it somewhere you’ll remember.