Success

What are the keys to success? Everyone wants to know. Just punch that in Google, along with whatever field or career you’re in, and you’ll get no less than 2,000 articles that tell you how to achieve your specific dreams.

But what they won’t tell you is your destination.

You see, you can get the keys to success, but if you don’t know what success really is, it’s like driving without a road map. Or I guess without Siri, now that we all have smartphones.

Keys to success only work when you already know where you’re going. And you only know where you’re going if you know the type of person you want to be. So what is it? How do you want to be?

In our world, to move forward means to produce, regardless of what it does to your body, mind or soul.

Success in business is determined by increasing annual revenue and soaring stock prices. If you’re an artist, success is determined by how many pieces or books you sell. The success of a concert or sporting venue is based on tickets sold.

Successful parenting in our culture means your kids are successful. Against all odds, they are getting all A’s, having perfect attendance, achieving a character award, getting the solo in an orchestra or the lead in the play, starting QB job on the field. That ultimately leads to getting into the college they want – free of charge, of course – and finally landing that dream job with a dream spouse. So they can have kids…who are getting all A’s, having perfect attendance…

The cycle goes on. But are we going nowhere fast? I often wonder, “Is this what Jesus considers successful?”

In Mark 8:36 he asked us this same question. He measured out the importance of following him against the desire to gain wealth, fame, prestige, position. And here is his conclusion:

³⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Mark 8:36

What’s the list? How do you measure success? By a dollar amount? Okay, let’s try to “gain the whole world.” Let’s see what it would take.

Any idea what the net worth of the richest man in the world is? His name is Jeff Bezos and, among other things, he owns Amazon. He’s worth $112 Billion! I can cover the $112 part, it’s the Billion that will give me some trouble. Next on the list is Bill Gates. We all remember him, right? He would need another $32 Billion dollars, a third of his total net worth, to surpass Bezos. In fact, if you’re number ten on the list, and that means you’re Larry Ellison owner of Oracle, then if you doubled your total net worth you’d still be short of the goal to earn the whole world.

Take a sobering look at your bank account. None of us are in that neighborhood. We’re not going to be able to chase them down. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that it doesn’t matter. Our markers of success and living extraordinary lives don’t even make it on Jesus list. If it’s real success you’re looking for, you won’t find it in Forbes or Inc Magazine. It’s somewhere else.

It’s in the heart.

Consider a few questions.

Who or what is determining your worth?

Who are you trying to impress?

When will you find contentment?

Jesus didn’t define success with stats and figures. He came up with another idea. While the world chases riches, and the enemy tries to destroy, Jesus came to give us life – and life to the fullest!

Successful living is the glory of living fully alive!

What’s more successful than that? St Irenaeus put it this way: “The glory of God is men and women fully alive!”

What makes you fully alive? How can God use your life for his glory? It’s not in the extraordinary markers of riches, wealth, status, ladder-climbing, perfect attendance, and looks. If you’ve got any of those, then that’s nice. But that’s not what will bring you life.

Our lives are mostly lived in the ordinary. And when we realize that, we can live each day successfully by making the most of it, learning to listen to others, be present with them, and serve whoever needs us now.

That’s how I want to measure success. I don’t always get it right, but I’m trying.