What is success?

What does it mean to be successful?

The sticky note above provides the dictionary definition of success.  Is this how really how success is defined?   If this is how success is defined, then how is it measured?

John Wooden has said “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”   

Did Coach Wooden measure success by the dictionary definition or did he use a different measuring stick?

The definition used by many in the world today largely measures success using:

• How much money you make/have
• How large a house you live in
• The type of car you drive
• How well known/famous you are

That raises the following additional questions:

• Is the CEO of a company more successful than a custodian in the same company? 
• How about a teacher? 
• A doctor? 
• A mechanic?
• A Hollywood actor or actress? 
• How about a house wife and/or a stay at home mom?

Before we get much further, I want to make it clear that there is nothing wrong with having a big house, lots of money, nice cars or fame.  There is nothing biblically wrong with having any of these things.   However, we all tend to get ourselves in trouble in one way or the other by making these things a primary focus and ultimately replace God with the pursuit of these things.  

When we replace God with the pursuit of any of these things, we cross a line and these things become idols, which happens to break the first two of ten commandments – “1. You shall have no other Gods before me” and “2. You shall not make idols.”   When we let the pursuit of any of the above things replace God in our lives, we have unconsciously created and idol and, in effect, made it a god in place of the one true God.

Mathew 6:21 Jesus tells us ”For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

Additionally, 1 Timothy 6:9-10 says “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief's.”  So we must be careful to protect ourselves and not let any of the above things come before God in our lives.

 

While the world would have us believe the key to life is all about success, it isn’t.   Saying that life isn’t all about success would be heresy to many people, because we are all trying to succeed in some way.  For many of us it is trying to ascend the corporate ladder and have success in our careers, or having success in raising kids, or just merely being successful at looking successful.  Planning for success, working for success, and worrying about success dominates our everyday lives. Look around and tell me if you feel that I am wrong in this observation.  So it is very easy to fall into the trap of believing that life is all about success – but it isn’t.  You see, Jesus provides us with the following two truths:

 

Luke 12:15: Speaking to the people, he went on, “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”

 

And, Matthew 16:26 Jesus is quoted as saying,  “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

We all loose focus on the fact that everything we have – homes, cars,  money, toys, video games, sports, food/drink, clothes, shoes, the very air we breath are all gifts from God.   When we loose focus on that basic truth, we also loose focus that we are all servants who are tending to these gifts.

Does that mean we should just stop trying and not worry about being successful?   Of course not!   While success is not what life is all about, success does play a part in life.  We just can’t make it THE ultimate thing. 

Thomas Merton wrote, “If you are too obsessed with success, you will forget to live.”  There is a lot of truth in those words, and when we focus all, or most, of our lives on success, we will fall short of the full life Jesus promises in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

How many of us sacrifice huge portions of the lives we are meant to live:

• loving our husbands and wives,
• spending time with kids,
• eating meals with families,
• hanging out with friends,
• helping people in need,
• spending too much time focusing on our own success?

How many of us are unavailable to those who need us most, whose lives are enriched by us—and who will enrich ours, right back?

 

The bible goes on to say in James 2:26 “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

 

Proverbs 16:3 further tells us: ”Commit to the Lord all you do, and your plans will succeed. "

Matthew 25:14 give us the parable of the talents.   In this parable, Jesus tells the story of  master who is leaving for a time and provides three of his servants the opportunity to use their abilities.   One servant, he provided five bags of gold, the second servant was provided three bags of gold and the last servant was given one bag of gold.   The first servant took the five bags of gold provided to him and, using his skills and abilities,  gained five additional bags of gold.   The second servant took the three bags of gold and, using their skills and abilities, also doubled the bags of gold they had from three to six.   The final servant decided to protect the bag of gold he was provided and hid/buried it so that it would not be lost.  

After some time had passed, the master returned and asked each servant for an accounting of how they had used their talents.   The first servant came in an showed that he had started with five bags of gold and now had ten.   The master was very happy with that servant and said “well done good and faithful servant!   I have trusted you with little and you have turned it into much.  You will be trusted with much more!”   The second servant, like the first, came in and showed his master that he too had doubled the bags of gold from three to six.   Again, the master was very happy with his servant and explained “Well done good and faithful servant!  I have trusted you with little and you have turned it into much.   You too will be trusted with many more things!”   The last servant came in an explained that they knew how shrewd a businessman their master was and that they had taken great care of the single bag of gold provided and provided the same bag of gold back.   Upon hearing and seeing this, master was very upset with the last servant and exclaimed “you lazy servant!  I have trusted you with a single bag of gold and you have done nothing with it.   You will be thrown out into the darkness where there is suffering and gnashing of teeth!”

While the above is a paraphrased version of the parable of the talents, it shows that the first two servants used the talents and abilities to good measure and would be considered successful.   The last servant, did not use their talents and abilities and were not considered successful and were no longer trusted nor taken care of by their master.  

 

In the end, I feel that being successful is not at all about having the most money, best cars, biggest house or most influence.  Rather, it is more about each of use using all God has given us for the furtherance of His kingdom.   This work should bring us both joy and peace of mind knowing we have done our best through the power of Christ working through us to accomplish what He has called each of us to do.   And if we all do that, we all will make a difference in the world that we live in.