Defining Success

A friend shared an inspirational quote on Instagram the other day and it got me thinking. Here's the quote:

So at first glance, I agree with the quote. We should be doing our best and giving each day all our effort. And our faith would agree:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. - Colossians 3:23 & 24

But what gave me pause was the way the quote could be taken. YOU are better than being average. YOU deserve the best. YOU need to live in a way that brings YOU all the things YOU want so YOU can be a SUCCESS.

I'm not saying at all that the friend intended that. (If that was you, please don't @ me!)

But contrast the "YOU"-focused application with this:

I think most of us (Christians and not) would see through and denounce the prosperity gospel advocated by the Joel Osteens of the world. That's probably not where we're going to get tripped up.

But I think there's an American Dream kind of prosperity gospel that we don't always see as such. That one is a little trickier because it masquerades as patriotism and gets intertwined with our politics and parties. And sometimes we get so focused on identifying with a particular political platform that we miss the very un-Christian values it's promoting (more on that in a future post). That American prosperity gospel tells us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, work hard, get ahead, and have all the things we want.

Well, again, yeah we should be working hard and doing our best, and there's nothing wrong with having material things (I'm not advocating pious poverty -- "Oh look at me I've given everything to the poor! I'm so great!"). But what are we really striving for, here? Living our "best life" at the expense of what?

Well, what did Jesus say? I borrowed this from The Gospel Coalition because it's worded better than I could probably write it myself:

Jesus deals with a rich young ruler who wants eternal life—so long as he isn’t asked to sacrifice his great wealth. When Jesus tells him to sell all he has and give it to the poor, he’s disheartened. He goes away sorrowful, for he has great possessions.

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

Jesus goes on to make the unequivocal statement, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” You don’t hear these words from prosperity gospel preachers. Rather, they give the impression that material wealth is the sure sign all is well between your soul and God. - TGC

And what else did Jesus say about His followers and prosperity?

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:6–8)

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. (1 Tim. 6:9–11)

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5)

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Prov. 30:7–9)

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  (Luke 9:23)

So I'm seeing a theme of sacrifice, contentment, giving, and yes, hard work. But the hard work is done to honor Him and ultimately to advance His kingdom. Not that we can't be happy and have things and go on vacations, but that is not our ultimate goal.

I recently heard on a podcast, (paraphrasing) "God's goal for you is not for you to wake up every morning happy. His goal for you is to make you more like Him." Sanctification, to use the churchy word. So if that's His goal for us, His means would probably include not having everything we want.

I'm definitely not trying to be preachy. Like I said, I don't disagree with the quote. But I do think the application of it warrants careful consideration. We can strive so hard for things that they become gods to us, causing hurt feelings and rejecting others who we think are getting in our way or don't share our goals or efforts. If we are getting mad at our friends because they are ok living contentedly without doing things our way to advance our goals, maybe we need to reassess.