Success versus Significance
Before I had come to recognise the workings of the Lord in my life, I was riding a wave of perceived success: full time work, full time study, good friends, fun adventures, travelling alone overseas, living abroad, a fit and healthy, buoyant lifestyle, a heavy involvement in the arts and culture in my community and an instagramable (ha!) journey. As soon as He called me, however, my life suddenly appeared to disintegrate right in my hands. I couldn’t get employment, I was struggling with my studies, my relationship crumbled and I had lost a lot of friends in the exchange from “I believe God exists” to “I believe in and trust Him.” All of my perceived success was of no value. All of it, sending me towards a future that I thought was brilliant and worthy of my time and existence, was actually, in God’s eyes, stepping stones to the ultimate failure - a failure to recognise Him and enjoy Him.
And whilst I acknowledge that now, there are still times, like today, when I think “God you know what I don’t get it. Why in your name am I, in the worldly sense, so successful, yet unable to succeed in the simplest task of gaining employment? Why can’t I refocus my energies onto a new community project? These things that bring me stability and joy - why did you take them away from me?”
Jeremiah 45:5 came to mind: "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not."
Jeremiah 45:5 came to mind: "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not."
When we're caught up in worldly progression and are dumbfounded at moments of failure, God simply answers us with two statements:
You’re busy placing your significance all on what you’re successful in.
Success is not to be determined by the result, but rather by the faithfulness along the journey.
Now the first is something that has risen up and badgered me in my heart lately, because we are, in this world, utterly obsessed with being successful and comparing our success or failures with others - comparing our very selves with others! But the highest paying job in London in the startup world, or a gorgeous relationship or marriage, or a perfect diet and fitness regime - these things, whilst demarcations of our success on the world’s stage, don’t necessarily give us a sense of eternal significance. We compare ourselves with others, when comparison is the thief of joy. Whilst we’re busy trying to climb the ladder, we’re missing the rungs where we’re meant to join onto another route - towards the loving hand of our maker.
You see your significance doesn’t come from what you’re good at. Your significance was decided upon by someone who set the currency of your worth and who keeps the stock price at a steady rate. The author of your worth decided “you’re fearfully and wonderfully made” - making you to be His masterpiece, to be “good.” He decided that you are so significant to Him that He could not imagine the kingdom of heaven without you - could not complete His creation, His universe, without you - YES, YOU - in it. Your significance is explained in the fact that you were one of the people that were granted breath on this earth and for whom He sent His only Son to buy you, like a coin lost in a field, buy buying the entire field. He would search you out, find you on a quiet night as you flick through Facebook, wooing your heart.
So I recognised that the things that I was determining my significance on were these things: a job, a relationship, an avant-garde hobby of some sort, a sense of recognition - not Beyoncé-level fame but definitely a published name. A lifestyle filled with escape.
For God, however, my significance was found in Him. The simple fact that I, like every other human on this planet, exist. It means my significance is equal to that of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. While I could aspire to greatness as did Moses when seeking to be the leader of Israel after all his worldly achievements, I had to recognise that I was to cling to the Shepherd in order to shepherd others. I had to have my wilderness experience to fully rely on God. I had to recognise that faithfulness was God's aspiration for me.
Ellen White writes that "[n]ot by their wealth, their education, or their position does God estimate men. He estimates them by their purity of motive and their beauty of character. He looks to see how much of His Spirit they possess and how much of His likeness their life reveals."
Ellen White writes that "[n]ot by their wealth, their education, or their position does God estimate men. He estimates them by their purity of motive and their beauty of character. He looks to see how much of His Spirit they possess and how much of His likeness their life reveals."
See, if I am faithful to God through whatever I come across, that is my success. My significance already exists, it is eternal to God. My success, however, is found in and through Him. Through this relationship. Not through working my way up a corporate ladder. Not through leading song services in my church. Not through self-help mechanisms. I must recognise that my only help is in Jesus Christ, my only search for success should be in my faithfulness to Him.
Ellen White confirms that 'it is those who perform faithfully their appointed work day by day, who in God's own time will hear His call, "Come up higher."' His promise is real. But our faithfulness must be first.
Ellen White confirms that 'it is those who perform faithfully their appointed work day by day, who in God's own time will hear His call, "Come up higher."' His promise is real. But our faithfulness must be first.
Faithfulness is God's aspiration for me.
To discover more about this biblical concept, I recommend reading 'A Lesson From the Life of Moses' in Help in Daily Living by Ellen White. Top form.
