Success looks different for each of us. However, most of us use worldly achievements as a basis to determine the magnitude of our success. More often than not, these are tangible things associated with numbers. But at the end of your life, can you say that you are truly fulfilled? To avoid living with regret, start measuring success by looking deep into yourself and drowning out the noise from the physical realm.
In this episode, Tim delves into alternative ways of measuring success. He shares his version of the Scripture’s fruits of the Spirit and breaks down what each of them means. Once these fruits start lining up, then we begin living a life of peace and shalom. He also talks about the origin story of the podcast and how it has shaped his life today.
Listen to the episode to find out the bigger, more important way of measuring success through love, faith, and peace!
3 Reasons to Listen:
- Find out what the Scripture says about measuring success.
- Learn the ways of measuring success through three fruits of the Spirit.
- Discover the story behind Seek Go Create.
Resources
Episode Highlights
[01:05] Defining Success
- The events that happened over the last 15 years of Tim’s life prompted him to think about how we define success.
- Most people define their success through money, stuff, titles, the past, the future, time, people, and comparison.
- However, measuring success this way leads to stress.
[04:04] How the Lord Works
- Sometimes, we see the Lord doing things in our lives, but we’re not sure how they fit together.
- Eventually, everything will start coming together.
- Tune in to the full episode to hear Tim’s example for this situation.
[05:37] Measuring Success
- The Scripture says that we should not judge others.
- However, we are allowed to look at the fruits that they have to measure success.
[07:13] What the Scripture Says
- Galatians 5:16–26 tackles Paul’s conversation about walking in the Spirit. It gives a great example of how we can measure ourselves on how well we’re doing.
- Are you walking in the flesh or the Spirit? You can measure your success by looking at how well you are doing in the latter.
- Walking in the flesh looks like adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, envy, murder, drunkenness, and revelry.
- Meanwhile, the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering/patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
[09:48] On Success and Longevity
- Most people only live to 70 or 80 years old. People with longevity can reach beyond 100.
- Longevity isn’t the best measure of success. However, it is an indication of the quality of life you live.
- Stress is one of the biggest killers we have. It builds anxiety and removes years from our lives.
- Populations with longevity tend to move naturally in nature, have the right outlook and attitude, eat wisely, and be connected.
- Listen to the full episode to learn which places in the world have a longer-living population!
[12:57] “Stress, to me, is one of the biggest killers that we have. It really takes away a lot of the joy in our life. It takes away a lot of what I would think would be success because it builds in anxiety.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[15:28] What We are Created for
- Longevity was part of what was formulating in Tim’s mind as he began working on his projects.
- Our ultimate design is to live a long, healthy, prosperous life filled with joy.
- Tim wants to focus on doing things to work toward living this kind of life.
[16:25] “Our ultimate design is to live that long, long life and for it to be of joy, and peace, and happiness.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[17:01] Tim’s Version of the Fruits of the Spirit
- Paul’s list of fruits could fall under Tim’s version of three fruits.
- Tim felt that his novel was inspired divinely. The Lord gave him the three principles that he should focus on.
- These three fruits are love, faith, and peace. Tim started to measure much of what he does by these.
[19:33] Fruit #1: Love
- Tim never thought to measure his success and define himself through love. He realized that his motives were wrong, so he shifted his mindset.
- Love is one of the foundational principles we all need to have and be able to measure.
- At the macro level, there are plenty of issues, challenges, and division going on in the world.
- The deep meaning of love is about understanding, compassion, and empathy for others.
- If it’s something you’re conveying, the people around you can tell you about it.
[20:47] “ The fruit of the Spirit, love, that Paul talks about here, really, is one of the foundational principles that I need to have, that I believe you need to have, that we need to have, that we need to be able to measure.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[23:03] Fruit #2: Faith
- For Tim, faith is a deep conviction and understanding that the world is not all about you.
- The bigger picture for Tim is that God created all of us. So, he measures his success based on how well he operates based on that definition.
- A lot of people think that the world revolves around them. This belief shows in their actions.
- The Book of John says that we are to love God, love others, then love ourselves—in this order.
[25:44] Fruit #3: Peace
- We can also use the word “rest” or “shalom” for this fruit.
- Shalom is being at peace—spirit, soul, and body. There is no conflict between the mind and the spirit.
- Being at peace is when we begin experiencing times where we don’t have stress.
- We move into hypocrisy when our minds and actions do not line up with our body and spirit.
- This unalignment leads to stress and anxiety.
[27:54] What the Three Fruits Cascade Into
- When the three fruits start lining up, it cascades into living a less stressful life of shalom.
- Tim tackles these principles and how they inspire us to start measuring success differently in his book.
[27:57] “When one has an understanding, compassion, and love for other people, and then when they’ve got a fate that things are bigger than them, I think when those start lining up, then it cascades into living a less stressful, a more at peace, more at rest, a life of shalom.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[28:40] Seek, Go, Create
- These words originated back in 2008–2009 when Tim was going through one of the most financially challenging times of his life.
- After begging the Lord, he divinely received four words: seek, go, create, and NOW.
- These allowed him to stay on track in having the fruit of the Spirit.
[32:05] Seek
- For Tim, it was talking to the Lord, listening, and seeking what He wanted him to do.
- We all have specific purposes and assignments God created us for.
- Tim does the best he can to have a better gauge when it comes to measuring success.
[33:27] Go
- Being in a challenging time made Tim fearful of doing things.
- He had to be reminded that the step after seeking and doing research is to go.
- The Scripture “Go into the world” became the mantra of Tim and his wife.
- Seek first, then get ready to go out and do something.
[34:51] Create
- Tim used to say that he was not a creative person.
- He later realized that we were designed to create because God made us after His image.
- The challenging thing is to identify the seek and go part to find out what we should create.
[36:25] NOW!
- There’s no reason to wait once the three things are all in place.
[36:38] “Don’t pause. Don’t wait. If you’ve got all those other things in place, do it now. There’s no reason to wait.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[37:33] Measuring Success through the Fruits of the Spirit
- There’s nothing wrong with money and material things. But the three fruits are bigger, more important measurements of success.
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Seek Go Create is for anyone seeking excellence, moving towards success, or creating something new. We share topics, stories, and conversations that allow us to rethink how we live, work, and lead.
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To growing and becoming all we are created to be,
Tim
