The Cost of Winning: Coming In First Across the Wrong Finish Line

Life is a not a contest. Why do we make it one and, in the process, make ourselves unhappy and distant from the Lord? Bestselling author Dean Hughes suggests some ways to "get out of the game," shedding a lot of what doesn't matter and focusing on what does.

"When I stand before the Lord to answer for my life," he writes, "I'm certain that He is going to ask me a very different set of questions from the ones the world asks me. It seems important, during life, to 'win' at all sorts of contests: better job, bigger house, more important Church calling, children with greater achievements. But I think the Lord will want to know whether I was kind and humble and whether I looked out for people in need."

Dean offers some practical suggestions that will help us think more clearly about our priorities and act in ways that will make us truly happy — because they will draw us closer to Christ.