Many people in our world are driven, determined, and relentless in their pursuit of success.
Books are written about it, lectures are given, conferences are conducting… all about this topic of success.
And in some sense, rightfully so. I mean, I want to be successful. I want to be described as a successful person in every way. I think it’s a God given desire to want to succeed in all endeavors.
I’ve realized that if you are in pursuit of something, it helps to know what that thing is. Which leads us to ask the question, “what is success?” and, “who is the one that defines what it is?”
Some might say success pursuing and achieving a comfortable lifestyle financially, healthy kids, tangible results, lots of friends, a bountiful retirement fund, maybe even having respect from everyone in your community is success.
And none of the things listed above is wrong or “bad”- heck I think a lot of them are great! I’m curious about what happens when a person in pursuit of success checks all of those things off the list yet doesn’t think they’ve arrived yet.
What if success had zero to do with one’s finances or possessions or health or promotions or statistics or winning seasons? what if some of these things came in the wake of success but it was actually “the thing”?
I’ll tell ya, being in Guatemala has challenged my western-thinking mind. And I believe the Lord has been redefining what success is for me. In third-world living, efficiency is thrown out the window. And when in missions, there can be seasons of “no fruit” or no tangible results to the sowing that happens day in and day out. Now as believers, we know the importance of planting seeds, and we have prophets like Jeremiah who were faithful yet didn’t see one ounce of fruit from their labor. And when I let my western mind wonder, being here can be hard. I get restless. I ask questions like “are we really making a difference?” basically, I’m asking “I am actually being successful?”
And then Paul’s words come to my mind in Philippians 3:8-10 where we see these phrases…
“…the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus”
“…to be found in Him”
“…I want to know Christ”
It’s a pretty jam packed couple of verse, and to me, the message is clear
Success is to know Him.
And when we pursue to know Him above all else, the rest else falls into place. I know this because it’s written in the book (Matt 6:33)
I’ve noticed that a wide variety of script are engraved on a person’s tombstone these days:
their dates of life, nicknames, scripture, maybe a small phrase like “loving Father” and many other things
and I realized that for me, what would be the ultimate, the absolute mark of success, the end all be all for my life, would be a mark on my tombstone that read..
“She knew Him”
no name, no date. Just that short phrase. Wow, that is the ultimate!
And I’m here to tell you, the people at this base know Him. They know Him, they hear His voice. And we are in a crazy pursuit to know more of Him. Not just things about Him, but to truly truly know Him. There is always more so we’ll always be in pursuit. Therefore, I confidently say, even apart from ministry statistics, people we’ve ministered to, orphanages we’ve enabled or started, we are successful.
Because success is to know Him.
