HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS by Timothy W. Massaro for Core Christianity
GNN Note – Before Gospel News Network was born and I still worked in corporate America , one of questions I would ask during the interview process was “how do you describe success?” There is, obviously, no right or wrong answer, but it provide a keen insight to their thought process and how the candidate viewed themselves and the world.
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Whether it is in our work, our home life, or our Christian walk, it’s easy to become overly interested in goals. We can become caught up in measuring success by cultural standards.
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
We turn to gimmicks and fads to get “results” when living the Christian life seems difficult or when the gospel seems to fail us in the here and now. We easily forget how Christ measures success in this life.
As C. S. Lewis reminded his friend Arthur Greeves, “It is not your business to succeed (no one can be sure of that), but to do right. When you have done so, the rest lies with God.” This is something we must constantly remind ourselves of, but there is more God’s Word tells us.
The Bible outlines a very different vision of success.
The book of Revelation is a dramatic picture of true success:
And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Rev. 12:11)
The new life we have by the blood of Christ is ultimately how we must measure victory in this age. True success, as God measures things, is the only path to true joy, even if it leads to our death (Ps. 28:7). Our joy, our victory, and our success are not measured by the things that seem powerful or potent. They are measured by the cross.
