We love the American dream. Ideally, someone who starts with nothing can work hard and become wildly rich and successful. As American Christians, we have it made. We can enjoy spiritual, personal and financial success. It might be hard for us then when we read the Bible and see that our idea of success is vastly different from God’s.
In Hebrews 11—what is commonly known as the “Hall of Faith”—the author of Hebrews lists the great heroes of our faith. There is Abraham, Moses, Rahab and many others who “conquered kingdoms” and “stopped the mouths of lions.” But that passage also says that there were those who were tortured, killed, afflicted and mistreated, wandering in the wilderness. Conquering kingdoms and stopping the mouths of lions sounds like success to me! But being tortured and afflicted doesn’t fit into my American dream.
God’s definition of success doesn’t necessarily include wealth or an easy life. In fact, God’s definition of success looks a lot like failure. When Jesus hung on the cross, He appeared completely defeated and unsuccessful in His mission of bringing in God’s kingdom. But in that moment, Jesus was actually making a way for us to be saved and He was defeating death by rising again. A lot of times when it seems that we’re facing God’s wrath, we’re actually caught up in His grace. In Romans 1, God’s wrath was giving the people exactly what they wanted. They wanted to follow their lusts and passions, so God gave them over to their sin and held them accountable for it.
We might think that the things we want in life are what’s best for us, but God knows what’s really best for us. It might look like we are defeated in this life, but we know resurrection life is waiting for us. Conquering eternal death with our faith in Christ is more success than any amount of earthly wealth or fame.
The best we can do with our lives can’t be measured in this world. The best we can do is Jesus and He is not of this world. Success for the Christian is becoming more and more like Jesus who only did what God wanted Him to do. Will we choose to define success like Jesus did?