SUCCESS ISN’T THE ABSENCE OF FAILURE!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and do not forget all his benefits… Psalm 103:2.

God sees ‘success’ and ‘failure’ more in terms of relationships than of achievements, more in ‘being’ than in ‘doing’… Noah got drunk, Moses got angry and Gideon became scared. Peter could be inconsistent, Paul inconsiderate; Thomas doubted, Martha pouted. But God continued to love them and turned their failures into victories.

A friend of mine wrote: ‘Success isn’t the absence of failure. It is having the determination to never quit because “quitters never win and winners never quit”. Almost every person who has achieved anything worthwhile with his or her life has not only experienced failure, but experienced it many times… God wants you to achieve something worthwhile – not necessarily spectacular… If you feel you have failed, be encouraged. Now’s the time to give God a chance. “He’ll mend even a broken heart if you’ll give him all the pieces.”‘

‘For those who believe in God, failure is never forever.’ Thank you, Lord. Amen.

THAT IMPOSTER, SUCCESS!

Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you… for I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you’. Isaiah 41:10,13.

Most Western pastors lead churches that are not growing numerically. Many feel they are failures. But they may be more ‘successful’ in God’s eyes than others whose churches are booming, but whose growth is simply catering to their own egos.

So be careful of that imposter ‘success’. You may succeed but not in God’s way. Your calling is to do his will, and if he grants you success, fine. If not, fine! God’s will is that you shall not need to be successful to be happy. If you are elated too much by success or depressed too much by failure, you still have some maturing to do!

Ignatius Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. It was his life-work, the fulfilment of a consuming ambition. He was once asked how he’d feel if the Pope suppressed the Society. ‘A quarter of an hour of prayer’, he replied, ‘and I would think no more of it’. He’d cultivated a sublime indifference to temporal success or failure.

The one thing that matters, Lord Christ, is that you are honoured. May that be my consuming ambition. Amen.

SUCCESS IS NEVER REALLY SATISFYING

Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33.

The Puritans preached that ‘success’ results from God’s blessing, or God’s testing, or God’s abandonment and judgment, or the devil’s seduction. Only one in four was God’s prospering.

Success is never really satisfying: God hasn’t made us that way. We’re not to settle down here permanently – not even on the top of a mountain. (Looking down on others isn’t helpful spiritually; and you expend a lot of negative energy excluding others from the peak). The reward or prize is offered in the next life, said Jesus and Paul: in this, our badge of office is a towel, serving others rather than dominating them.

Satisfaction is ‘serendipitous’ – it’s in the journeying, rather than the arriving. The saints have a well-developed ‘theology of gratitude’: expect nothing, they say, and you won’t be disappointed.

May the things of earth – including temporal success – grow strangely dim, in the light of your eternal glory and grace. Amen.

FAILURE AND SUCCESS: TWO FOOTNOTES

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12:34.

Abraham Lincoln experienced failure after failure – for twenty-eight years! In 1833 his business failed. In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown. He failed to be elected as speaker in 1838. He lost re-nomination to Congress in 1848, and was rejected for Land Officer in 1849. But he ‘hung in there’. In 1854 he was defeated for the Senate. Two years later he lost the nomination for Vice-President, and was again defeated in the Senate elections of 1858. But he was elected President in 1860, and went on to becomne America’s best-known leader ever.

Somewhere I found this paragraph: After the miracles in Galilee there comes the solitude of the cross. After the proof of God by success, there comes the proof of God in failure; a paradoxical proof, but how much greater, in fact, and more absolute, despite its apparently relative character. It is difficult for most people to survive either success or failure. We (Western) humans have an inordinate need to demonstrate our worth by performance. We strive to be luminaries, rather than letting our light shine. We are what we do and achieve. And we have an insatiable appetite for approval: much of the way we behave is a veiled means of soliciting compliments. Many spend all their waking hours willing themselves to succeed or fearing failure. (Our dreams continue these themes).

So, Lord, again I pray: If you grant me success, I will thank you. And if you grant me failure, I will also praise you. Amen.