Success: God's Goal for Us

At the end of the Freedom in Christ Course* is a section that reviews eight topics which, if embraced, will make our lives better.  Every time I teach this course, I say to myself, “These topics are important enough to be taken one by one and examined.” So, over the next several devotionals, that is what we will do. The first of these topics is “Success.”

Think back over your life to what you consider to be your successes.  Was it being chosen in a game on the playground in elementary school?  Was it finally making a friend in junior high? Was it staying out of trouble (or perhaps getting into trouble) in High School? Is it having a family or a job at a well-known company? It seems that what I have considered successes were often measured by what I did or by what someone else has told me I needed to do. One memorable event was when my school advisor told me that I could not graduate until I had solved a particular math equation. Wow, I sweated that out for a very long time!

Success as defined by ourselves, our peers, or our environments is pretty slippery.  How do I know when I have or have not achieved it? What if some great achievement is in contrast to what someone, such as my parents, told me was success?  If this happens, we may be completely conflicted and stressed.  I know of a great athlete who was told he would never amount to anything.  He was conflicted and used self-medication to cover the pain. He was successful in the eyes of many, but not in his own broken mind. 

Into this mess, we need a standard against which to interpret our lives.  God gives us such a standard.  But it is not related to doing. Doing (by itself) would be legalism or performance-based acceptance. Instead, God takes greater concern for who we are, our being. His primary aim is to develop our character.

Let me share a story. I knew a man, let’s call him Jeremy, who was born to a prominent Christian politician.  As the bright young first-born, expectations were high that he would follow in his father’s steps.  But while in Africa at age 10, he tragically was thrown from a jeep and the back of his skull crushed as he landed.  He survived into adulthood with very little impact other than a complete halt to his social development.  As he aged, God developed his soul and spirit even though his cognitive functions stayed the same.  I worked with Jeremy as a late teen; at the time, he was about 45 years old. Jeremy’s faith was strong. He had an extremely sharp conscious and would catch me lying (what I called exaggeration). He was faithful in his tasks and a joy to have in our presence. He was loved and remembered by those who met him.  His character left an impact on all of us.  Jeremy was joyful and certainly a success in God’s eyes.  His “being” was well-developed.

God wants us to develop in character. When we pursue God and allow God to pursue us, we do develop in character. But there are times and reasons development is blocked. In His grace, God helps us, as we see in Romans 5:1-5, Hebrews 12:3-11, and James 1:2-4.  It is our difficulties which are used by God to make deep change in us. Would we change without these difficulties? Apparently not, atleast in certain areas of our lives. But if we let God disciple us, the difficulties can be used to bring amazing fruit in our lives.  As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison...” 

We can know success. We experience success when we let God develop His character in us.

“For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18b).  God’s goal for us is complete inner transformation. Our job is to join with Him as He does this inward work in us. Trust me—it will be well worth it!

*The Freedom in Christ Course is a Bible-based discipleship course designed to help every Christian break free from what is holding them back and become who they are made to be in Christ. You can sign up to go through the course in an online, small group setting starting this January. Registration opens in November! Click here for more info.