What is Success?
We have a tendency to view success through the same lens that the world uses. We can start thinking that busy is productive and that fuller calendars mean fuller lives. We can let what others say about us become the measuring line. When our banks are full of money and our homes are full of things, when we ace the grades on our exams, receive promotions or get our wedding ring, we can start to think we’ve made it. We are successful.
His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). His measuring line is not the same as ours. If His opinion really matters on that day, then today we had better start measuring success the way he does. Jesus called his disciples to leave their occupations and their families — all they had known and worked for. They were homeless, jobless, misunderstood and fully dependent. They followed Jesus and they were successful.
The world looks at the rich young ruler and says: ‘now there is success’. They see his money, reputation and youth, his social standing and fine dress. But when the Son of God invited him to follow, he politely declined. He was simply unwilling to leave it all behind (Matthew 10:17-22). Success looks like accepting that invitation even when it’s a costly price. Stephen waited on tables yet he had a resolve to follow Christ. It was an angry mob throwing stones that ended his life (Acts 7). He was the first among many that willingly died. Yet his obedience to death was successful in the Father’s eyes.
Today, I believe the invitation is extended to us all. I hear the Father’s gentle whisper: ‘Will you leave it all? Everything you think you know and everything you think you own? Will you leave behind the life you’ve been building, your rights and your liberties? Will you leave your reputation, take up your cross and follow me?’
I pray, as we ponder these questions, our hearts would respond with a resounding ‘yes’. We would choose his way and in so doing, we would be truly successful.
- Bethany Milne
His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). His measuring line is not the same as ours. If His opinion really matters on that day, then today we had better start measuring success the way he does. Jesus called his disciples to leave their occupations and their families — all they had known and worked for. They were homeless, jobless, misunderstood and fully dependent. They followed Jesus and they were successful.
The world looks at the rich young ruler and says: ‘now there is success’. They see his money, reputation and youth, his social standing and fine dress. But when the Son of God invited him to follow, he politely declined. He was simply unwilling to leave it all behind (Matthew 10:17-22). Success looks like accepting that invitation even when it’s a costly price. Stephen waited on tables yet he had a resolve to follow Christ. It was an angry mob throwing stones that ended his life (Acts 7). He was the first among many that willingly died. Yet his obedience to death was successful in the Father’s eyes.
Today, I believe the invitation is extended to us all. I hear the Father’s gentle whisper: ‘Will you leave it all? Everything you think you know and everything you think you own? Will you leave behind the life you’ve been building, your rights and your liberties? Will you leave your reputation, take up your cross and follow me?’
I pray, as we ponder these questions, our hearts would respond with a resounding ‘yes’. We would choose his way and in so doing, we would be truly successful.
- Bethany Milne
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