The Need to Succeed

Genesis 1:27 ^“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

I’ve really been enjoying this Sunday Sermon series on “Identity Theft”, that examines the question: “Who are we in Christ?” Pastor JJ explains that it is an important question because we have a tendency to forget that we’re special already, created in God’s image, with our identity in Him, not with others. Have you noticed that where we look determines our identity? If we look to the world: people, possessions, pay, portfolio, pomp, pageantry, prestige, power, position, pleasure, et cetera ... it’s never enough. We’ll always need one more to finally “make it”, then one more again, because you can never have too many. When John D. Rockefeller, who had an estimated net worth of $340 Billion, was asked “how much would be enough?” he answered “just a little bit more.”  But, he who has the most at the end does not win.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?  The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.”

In the Rat Race of life, we are engrained with the motto of “Look out for Number One”, claw, fight and scratch your way up that ladder of life. Conquer, highest grades, top of the list, best job, improving, promotions, bigger and more as we compare ourselves and base our success on others in the race with the need to succeed. This racing to the proverbial finish line can produce a condition known as “Hurry Sickness” : a behavior pattern characterized by continual rushing and anxiousness; an overwhelming and continual sense of urgency; cramming life, running from one place and activity to another. In the church, what keeps most people from Christian ministry? The most common answer is: “I don’t have the time.”

Psalm 49:16-17 “Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them.”

Luke 12:15 “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

We are all created differently, with strengths and weaknesses. We are naturally good in areas that we are gifted in. In the final analysis, it’s all about the pursuit (where you are looking), because you can’t take it with you when you go. You’ll never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. Filling up our life with stuff that we cannot take with us when we go to be with the Lord is not the pursuit of happiness. It isn’t about doing, but about being. Our “doing” must flow out of “Being”, and balance comes from being in Christ. Life is not about building bigger barns and filling them up. More is not enough. We need to look beyond the shinny stuff. Remember that when you play the game of Monopoly, the goal is to bankrupt everyone else by owning all the properties and money, but in the end, everything goes back in the box.

Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Ecclesiastes 5:15 “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.”

To succeed is not inherently evil, unless a consuming desire for success takes your focus off of God. We can idolize the pursuit of success and replace the need for God with the need to succeed. The first step in the pursuit of spiritual success starts with forfeiting ourselves. Keeping up with the Jones has a prideful impediment element, that we do not need anything. But in reality, we are a sinful beggar dependent upon the providence of Almighty God for our very life, breath and future. We are never to plan so much for this life that we forget about the next. True success is having Christ in our life. God sees character that flows out of His character (i.e. ethics, loving, giving, etc.). The need to succeed is about looking to Christ and not being distracted by the God-rejecting world system or what our secular culture tells us. True success does not come by what you can acquire, because it’s unattainable that way. The real question is: “Are you right in God?”

1 Timothy 6:6-7 “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”

Success is in the Lord; faithfully knowing and obediently doing what God says. Are the things of God more important to us than the things of this world? In the need to succeed, we all need to clear the things of this world out of our lives in order to reach the real fulfillment that we all are looking for. Success is in the Lord.

In Christ, Brian