Finding Success

“Success: a favorable result; wished-for ending; good fortune” (World Book Dictionary)

Just about everyone wants to succeed at whatever he does. We want other people to think of us as successful and, more importantly, we want to think of ourselves as successful. Success by the standard of our society is elusive. Often it’s a sliding scale. For example, when I started in ministry in the early 1970s, a church with an average worship attendance of 300 was considered large, and I thought I would be a success if I was ever pastor of a church that size. I made it. I had the privilege of leading a church that grew from about 120 to a little over 300. Yeah me! But not really. By the 2000s, when our church had grown, the standard had changed. Three hundred is no longer considered a particularly large church. It’s often called middle-sized, and some people would consider it small. So, was I really successful. If success was accomplishing my goal to pastor a church of 300, then yes. But, if my goal was to pastor a large church, I failed miserably. If you ask me these days if I am a success, I will answer either yes or no depending on the kind of day I’m having. The point of this is to say that if we rely on society, or even ourselves to define success, very few of us will ever be secure in knowing ourselves to be successful.

So how can you and I ever know success? Do we take our society’s standard, which is commonly seen on t-shirts, “The one with the most toys wins?” That goal leads to frustration, because someone always has more than you.

Or you can do what I did and set your eyes on a goal, then work hard to reach that goal. That may work, unless the goal line moves or is not precisely defined. Beyond that is the truth, that reaching your goal may well lead to a let-down as you think that perhaps your goal was too small, or you don’t know what to do after the goal is reached.

The other possibility is to live by God’s standard for success. Jesus gives us the clues we need to discover God’s standard of success. We find this in “The Parable of the Talents” found in Matthew 25:14-30. Jesus told of a man leaving for a long journey who trusted three of his servants with money (talents: <$1,000) according to their abilities. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and one to the third servant. When he returned, he congratulated the five/ten talent man and welcomed him to share the master’s happiness. It was the same for the two/four talent man. But, the one talent guy was rebuked by his master, stripped of his talent and sent away.

Here is God’s standard of success: Use what God has given you to do what God has assigned you to do. He expects you to produce fruit in keeping with your gifts. Notice that the reward for the two/four talent servant was the same as for the one with five/ten talents. That’s a comfort to me. I have to do my best, but I’m only expected to do my best. My best is my best. Someone else may be able to do better, and others may not be able to do things as well as I can, but that should be neither here, nor there to me. I just have to be the best me I can, and use what I have for the Lord.

There are then two keys for my success:
1.) I must know what God’s assignment is for me.
2.) I must do my best to complete that assignment.
Whether or not others think of you as successful, and whether or not you think of yourself as successful is not really important. The important question is: How successful are you by God’s standard?

Jesus went a step farther. He not only gives us God’s standard of success, but He also tells us how to act as we strive and achieve that success. He said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" (Mark 9:35). To illustrate this principle, He washed the feet of the disciples. We are to be accommodating, helpful, and humble to others as we seek to fulfill our assignments from God. Arrogance may be the mark of successful people in the world, but it’s not to be so in the Kingdom of God. We are to be marked, as was Jesus, by our humility.

What if Bad Gets Worse?

For a lot of people these past few years have been very difficult. The unemployment, underemployment, and foreclosure stats all testify that there is a lot of pain in our society. Compared to the third world, most of us still have it pretty easy, but compared to what was, these are hard times for many. These difficulties have blindsided some Christians. They were led to believe that accepting Christ was like a free ticket to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. They were told that all their troubles were over when they decided to follow Jesus. Too bad they didn’t read the Bible. Jesus didn’t make any guarantee of an easy life. Instead, He told His followers to take up the cross, and follow Him. There are many examples in the Bible of people dealing with hard times. From Joseph, to Moses, to Ruth, to David, to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to Jesus himself, the Bible shows people who struggled and overcame. I think the ministry of the Apostle Paul demonstrates vividly what to do when bad gets worse.

1.) First of all keep praying. Don’t let your broken heart break your relationship with God. Reassurance and encouragement come in prayer when we listen to God and understand the role we play in prayer. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) He is God (the boss), and you aren’t.

2.) Keep up your strength. Be sure to guard your body in emotional times. Many upset people fall into a devil’s triangle of reacting mentally to stress by falling into depression, and then reacting physically to depression by becoming ill, which then increases stress, and the triangle starts over again. An example of Paul keeping up his strength is found in Acts 27:33-36.

3.) Keep on trusting the Lord. Work hard to keep your focus on God, and remind yourself of His Lordship. Then, keep remembering your role in your relationship with Him. You are a redeemed sinner who has chosen to serve the Lord who has rescued you from sin, from your own wickedness and from Satan. If you get the roles right in your mind and heart, God will give you hope in the midst of hard times. (Check out Romans 15:13.)

4.) Let God work, which means you will have to be patient. The Lord, being the boss, works on His timetable, not yours. Sometimes, it feels like He has forgotten you, but He doesn’t forget. Be assured that He is on your case. Think how long it took for things to work out for Joseph in Genesis. In the end, Joseph was able to say:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

You need to get out of His way, and expect Him to work in your situation. Watch out, because He may not do what you thought He would do.

5.) Accept the outcome and make the best of it. Whatever happens, keep trusting God, as Paul said:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 - NIV).

God’s view is bigger than yours. His perspective gives Him a much longer and broader understanding than you can have. You have to believe that He has your best interest at heart even when your immediate circumstances would tempt you to doubt that. When bad gets worse, hang on and determine to go on from here with God. Hang on, not in desperation, but with hope. Know that God loves you, has a plan, and you have not been forgotten. Your future may not go according to your plan, but if you trust God and hang on, things will work together for good.