Success is not the Goal!

Some of you will find this line of thinking weird, but I'm sure it won't be the first time you heard me share something weird.

I know we all long to be successful and need to feel significant. However, the idea of "looking for or aiming for success" seems to bother me a bit. I am not seeing a Biblical call for that to be our goal. And I'm just questioning whether it is a God-honoring goal.

As a follower of Jesus, I think that my goal needs to be obedience. And faithfulness. Not success. Instead of aiming for success, I think we need to be aiming for faithfulness and obedience. Leave the success part to God. How would you define success anyway? According to your parents desires for you? According to your boss? According to the world? Everyone has a different idea of what success is. And as soon as you start trying to define it and aim for it, it changes.

Luke 6:26 in the MSG says "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular."

So, here is what I am thinking: Aim for faithfulness. Aim for obedience to the Lord and His Word. Leave the success part to God.

The ultimate goal of a Christ follower should be to hear "well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt. 25:23), not "you were successful"!

A true call to discipleship takes us out of the light and brings Jesus into it.