Success!

One of the most fundamental issues of life is success. How do we define it, how do we achieve it, and how do we measure it. And then, what do we do when we succeed or fail. It is all too easy to over-spiritualize the discussion and to say that we don’t need success or to call it an idol, but the truth is that we all need to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” If God thinks we need to hear that, my bet is that we really do need confirmation and a measure of success. The Psalmist wrote that hope deferred makes the heart sick but a dream realized is a tree of life.

So how do we measure success? Well, Jesus once indicated that his measure for life was to do just what the Father in Heaven was doing. That sounds simple but it is really profound. The measure of Jesus life was to do just what the Father was doing. Now we might be tempted to think, well Jesus doesn’t sack groceries, see patients, or teach school kids math, but a very wise man named Sam Logan once said it this way: Find out what God wants you to do– and do it!

There is nothing more empowering to your life than that. It removes what you are doing, from under the microscope of other people’s opinion and puts us into the place of disciple of Jesus. What every disciple of Jesus needs is to sense that when they lay their head down at the end of the day, they did at work, school, and with friends and family, just what God wanted them to do. That is success. What does God want you to do today?