Without revealing too much personal information, there was a recent event where two family groups were at odds about what to do. One side wanted patience and the other wanted immediate action. One side suggested compassion and the other called for legal action. I was thinking about it, and I realized the two sides had different versions of “success.” Success is something we all think we understand, but few of us stop to analyze. What is “success” in a church? A job? A relationship? A life? It can be surprisingly hard to define. Is a church “successful” if it has lots of money? A business would be, but not a church. Is a family “successful” if it has lots of members? A church might feel like it, but does a family? Success seems obvious, but it’s not.
What makes the difference? Well, success is determined by the goal. “Success” is defined as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” (“Oh … okay … of course it is,” you say.) But do we actually think about that in our drive for success? What is the aim? Not so much. In the above example, “success” meant to one group “a positive outcome,” and to the other, “ending the circumstances.”
What is success for us believers? That seems like a broad question. I don’t think it’s nearly so broad as you might think. There are fundamentals. “Love”—love God and your neighbor—is a fundamental (Matt 22:37-40). “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31) is a good blanket fundamental. Being conformed to the image of God’s Son (Rom 8:28-29) is a great measure of success. Maybe we need to revisit our goals—our definition of success. Maybe we need to improve our aim.
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I'm at a men's retreat and just last night we were being reminded that part of being redeemed men is that our work has also been redeemed for it's original purpose, as seen in Genesis, to reflect His likeness and glorify Him. And that simply is the answer to whether anything we do is successful. Did it glorify God? No matter the earthly outcome, the answer to that question is the answer to whether it was successful or not. Any other measure as believers is to fall short.
My aim is to live as faithfully as possible within God’s revealed will for me--with the main objective being that I grow in Christlikeness and secondly, that my good deeds draw others to the Lord (Matt. 5:16). I would predict that nonbelievers observing my life would never deem any of this pursuit of Christian growth as worthwhile or life-enhancing by their standards. While those people are living for this life, I am living for the next one. When I consider the contrast between worldly success and the pursuit of the goals God has set for me, I think of Mark 8:36: “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” A different agenda, different “ways and means,” and different versions of “success.”
Speaking of pursuing success, I recall an incident when my daughter was in early grade school, and the mother of a classmate of hers, who had enrolled her daughter in a special program of some sort on which I had passed, asked me (almost incredulously), “Don’t you want your daughter to get ahead?” I replied, “Ahead of whom?” Just as she and I had different objectives for our girls, God has different goals for His children for which to strive.
Thinking about this topic a bit deeper, I realize that I am in the reflective season of my life--when I am naturally assessing my life’s past goals, achievements, “successes,” etc. I can clearly see in hindsight the shift that the Lord has made in my priorities and objectives from when I was a new believer at age 20 (and very much living for this life) to now, 50 years later, possessing a more eternity-focused mindset. I am also amazed to realize now that the things I thought I was forfeiting by choosing to follow God rather than the world’s ways have actually been granted to me just the same. For example, while my husband and I did not actively pursue financial gain or material acquisitions during all the past decades, or a life filled with pleasure, comfort, or adventure, God has abundantly blessed us with those things without our seeking them. In our golden years, God has fulfilled Matt. 6:33 in my life: "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” I always valued this verse for how it refocused my priorities--i.e. as per the first half of the verse--and mostly forgot about the promise contained in the second half. While I was seeking the proper heart attitude all these past decades--as per Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart"--God saw fit to “add all these things” to my earthly life. “All this, and heaven, too!” What a generous and benevolent God!
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