I’ve been thinking a lot about success lately. We often ask the question “What does success look like?” or another way to put it “Define the win.” A friend of mine said recently that she thinks success is an American word. Very cultural. It got me thinking. What does God think of “success”. What is it really? Who cares? Seems like most people around me want to be successful. Whatever that means:
From good old Webster:
Success: a favorable result, the gaining of wealth, fame, etc.
Amazon has 819,260 books with the word success in the title. There are some great book titles:
Success: Advice for Achieving Your Goals from Remarkably Accomplished People
Effortless Success: How to Get What You Want and Have a Great Time Doing It
Secrets of Success: The Science and Spirit of Real Prosperity
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
Stress for Success
I think of success in terms of gain – climbing the ladder, earning more, more notariety, more “success” stories, reaching lofty goals. I think Stress for Success is probably a true statement.
What is success in God’s eyes? Paul defines it to Timothy:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
In Ecclesiasties life is defined as mostly meaningless. All the things we seek after, knowlege, fame, toys, wealth, you name it…it is all utterly meaningless. Finally Solomon writes this:
“Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.”
Fear (revere, worship) God, keep his commandments. That’s a pretty simple picture. The results are up to God. Perhaps the race Paul is running, and the fight he is fighting is as simple as faithfully fearing God and keeping his commands.
Sometimes, many times, I think I make life way too complicated.
