I was using this blog in the past to update friends and family as I journeyed through Australia on my DTS. I have been home for just over a month now and wasn't sure what to do with some of the free time I have. So I decide to use that time to turn this blog into an outlet for my ideas, thoughts and struggles. The main idea behind this is to get my thoughts out in the open. To articulate what I'm really thinking and feeling so it becomes real, solid, something I know I can stand on. Not everyone will agree with everything I am saying, and that's okay. They don't have to. Actually, I hope if someone disagrees with me they challenge me on it, get me to think.
To start off the new direction of my blog, I wanted to get out what I have been thinking/struggling with the last couple week. The idea of success. I feel for most our lives we have been told that success is attained through consumption, wealth, power... And it makes sense, the kings of history had all of this and for the most part anyone who is "worth" hearing about has these things too. But is that what success really is? Is that what the core of our being really wants?
I heard my pastor talk about success several months ago and he talked about what success through God looks like. Hearing what he had to say and thinking a bit about it myself, I have come to the conclusion that success, in God's eyes, is only based around one thing, obedience. Funny thing, huh? Obedience is something I feel that doesn't come easily to the human condition, well at least it doesn't come easily to me. It goes against everything that success is see as in about 99% of the world. So what do I think, do I really want to just be obedient and not care about anything else? One of the things that I have learned about following God is that it rarely is based on how I feel, for me a lot of it is based on me making a choice. So I have to make this decision based on love, trust and truth. I have to trust that God wants the best for me and he loves me and if I obey him he will take care of the rest. So obedience, you may suck and be had at times, but I have decided I love God more than I love the idea of success everyone else is caught up on. I choose the narrower path, the one that may look harder but in the end was so much more fulfilling. God, please help me be successful in your eyes.
Interesting thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFirst, your conclusion aligns with question #91 of the Westminster Large Catchetism:
"Question 91: What is the duty which God requires of man?
Answer: The duty which God requires of man, is obedience to his revealed will."
So... other people have come to this conclusion, too.
Personally... I think i would define success as every willing act we make that glorifies God.