“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24 (NIV)
How do you define success? This question may seem simple enough, but a concise understanding of its import has a serious bearing on how you perceive yourself and others as well as other important ramifications that can impact your destiny.
You don’t have to look too far to see how the world measures success. This is usually based on the amount of things you have accumulated as well as the size of your bank balance. However, this perspective is in contradistinction to how Jesus defines the measure of a man’s life. He says that it is not in the abundance of what he has. This means that the world’s way of measuring success is flawed. So what is the right way?
In his wonderful book ‘The success journey’, John C. Maxwell defined success as the progressive realisation of a predetermined goal. This implies that real success is not an event, but a process and an end you arrive at by taking smaller steps and achieving smaller objectives. He went on to define success as three distinct steps namely:
I. Success is finding out God’s will for your life and seeking to fulfil it.
II. Success is doing all you can to develop yourself to fulfil that plan, and
III. Success is helping and impacting people’s lives along the way.
These definitions of real success imply that success is not insular. It is not just about you alone, but actively involves other people. It is not working from a dog-eat-dog perspective and does not involve insensitively trampling on the dreams of others in order to achieve our own selfish ends. It places God at the centre of our endeavours and keeps Him there and significantly, it means that you can measure your progress in line with your predetermined goal. In this way, you will never see yourself as a failure because you will be making steady progress towards your goal. So, when other people whose flawed expectation of success you seem not to be fulfilling challenges you, you will not be flustered by their put downs because your success is progressive and by keeping at it you will get there in the end.
Our anchor passage underlines an important principle by which heaven operates and it is that there can be no life without death. One has to die in order that many might live. Jesus Christ is the ultimate model of that profound truth and you and billions others are the proof of its veracity. This principle is still in operation and is often utilised by God to prepare individual Christians for enhanced and more productive works of service. So, how do you define success – the world’s way or heaven’s way? Don’t like one unfortunate man spend the bulk of your precious life climbing the world’s success ladder, only to belatedly realise that it is leaning against the wrong building. A word is enough for the wise. Be wise.
Prayer:
Lord, help me fulfil your purpose for my life so that I can have good success. Guide me and show me what to do so that my earthly pursuits will be worthwhile and my life will impact lives for the glory of your name. Amen.