The answers that I received were not very surprising, especially considering that the students run the board from lifelong attendees familiar with a Biblical worldview all the way to those hearing the Gospel for the first time at age seventeen. In the end, three pictures rose prominently from the tangle of results. Students thought success was happiness, money, and reaching your goals.
So what can we learn from my little experiment? I learned that though the ideas of success may vary, what is consistent is the temporal focus of the definition. Simply put, even amongst Christians, the focus was not God-centered, heaven-minded, or eternally significant. As someone who follows research and statistics regarding society and Christianity, I feel that these results would generally hold true if the experiment was expanded.
In large part, we have mistaken what it means to be successful. There is victory and riches and glory to be had, but we settle for things as common as money and fleeting as influence. It may be that we view Biblical success as far-distant and too otherworldly to grasp in our daily lives. It could be that we know we chase after wood, hay, and stubble that must disappoint, and we just don’t care. Let us together presume that we, and the vast majority of Christ-followers, desperately want to be successful in the eyes of God. How do we get Heavenly scenes of crowns and “well dones” into our everyday lives?
First, understand your purpose.
Scripture tells us, unequivocally, that we were made for a purpose and on purpose. This is shown in Revelation 4:11 thusly: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” If the revelatory surroundings are too ethereal for you, check out Colossians 1:16-17, where Paul writes: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
You were made for Him. For His pleasure. For His glory. For His plan. End of story, discussion, conjecture. The preacher writing in Ecclesiastes searched for success in “everything under the sun.” He found that the entirety of man could be summed up: “Fear God, and keep his commandments (Ecc. 12:13).”
Can you sing from the heart (along with Building 429, the recording artists) the hearty refrain, “Take me as I am, I am Yours to use. I have lifted empty hands 'Cause I was made for You”? A life lived in defiance of this most basic principle has no hope of finding God-defined success. By definition, we are living outside of our created purpose. Such a life must be a fantastic failure; regardless of fortune, fame, family, or friends. Augustine of Hippo wrote, “Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” If you have not, bow the knee of your present and future to the purpose for which you were made. You will be restless until you do.
Second, live on purpose.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” So, even when viewed from our perspective, life is still about God and His glory. If our very purpose for existence is God-centric, how can we live each day in that purpose? In Romans, Paul tells us that believers will be conformed to the image of Christ (8:29). And in Ephesians, he says that believers are created unto good works and ordained to walk in them (2:10). When it comes to success in the daily life of a Christian, I feel like these are the two foundational things.
Am I more like Jesus? This isn’t the blog post to detail what a Jesus-life looks like exactly; but in general, Christ did the will of His Father and went around doing good. The wonderful thing about looking at each day through this lens, is that it makes sense of not only the good in my life, but also the bad. Overlooked for a promotion at work, but accepted it with grace and dignity? That’s like Jesus and is only failure if your purpose is something other than looking like and pleasing Him. Did your kid hit you in the actual eyeball with a NERF rocket leaving you roaring around like a bear and sending your wife to hide the young assassin in his bedroom? That is actually not a Christlike reaction, but is only a failure if you don’t allow it to conform you to His image a bit more for the next time.
I’d encourage you to look at the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and the principle found in Philippians 4:8. Is God growing you in any of these areas? Success. He is the potter. Your life is the clay. For a believer, the only way to success is to live within and on purpose. This does not mean that worldly success is out of reach, but it does mean that worldly success alone is failure every time.
From my survey of over sixty students, and statistical data on the health of the church in America, it would appear that many are failing. It need not be so. May it not be so with us.
I’d encourage you to look at the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and the principle found in Philippians 4:8. Is God growing you in any of these areas? Success. He is the potter. Your life is the clay. For a believer, the only way to success is to live within and on purpose. This does not mean that worldly success is out of reach, but it does mean that worldly success alone is failure every time.
From my survey of over sixty students, and statistical data on the health of the church in America, it would appear that many are failing. It need not be so. May it not be so with us.
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