A guest post by Matt Murphy 

Recently, I have been working out at a CrossFit gym or box. It has been an incredible experience. I love the camaraderie that we have, the competition, and the results that it produces. I have never been stronger or more fit in my life. In our “box” as we call it, we measure everything. We measure how fast we do things, how many reps we do, and how heavy our weight is. We want to see measurable growth over time. It is important to do this in fitness so that you can focus on growing your fitness.

It is like this in many aspects of life. If I just go through the self-help aisle at Barnes and Noble I will find many books that will say, “5 steps to financial freedom” or “90 things to do in your first 90 days in a new job.” All of these type of things are measurable specific to an area of life you want to be successful. We are consumed in a world that is all about the bottom line. Because this is the world that we live in we naturally take this to our spiritual lives.

We think that to be successful in our spiritual life we have to do everything the Bible says and of course what our pastor says. We may not think of it this way but a lot of times we actually go to church look to for a list of things to do to make our spiritual live successful. Our American minds think that we will be a spiritual success if we attend church, take our children to church stuff, give a little money, give a little of our time, and pray once in a while…then we have made it spiritually. Well, sorry to say but none of that makes us successful spiritually. Jesus alone makes us a success. His version of success is so different than ours.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into this idea of success. If you read the Bible long enough you will find that much of the way God calls us to live is in direct contrast with what the world tells us. Let’s take a popular one in the American culture: retirement. A family that moves into retirement is deemed as a successful American family right? By the financial measure, they are successful. Here’s what Jesus says about that in Luke 12:

“And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

This is convicting isn’t it?  Those weren’t my words, they were Jesus’ words. If we are following Jesus we clearly have to redefine what retirement even means. We have to ask ourself the question about the money we are storing up and is this what God wants for me. It’s possible that He does want you to store it up for a future purpose. Maybe you have been given a job that you can make a lot of money so later you can give your time for His purposes and not need a salary. Or maybe He has given you gifts that you can make money your whole life to give for His purposes. Are you asking Him what His purpose for your life is?

When we look at how the Bible defines success for us there are never numerics involved. When numbers are involved in scripture they are always used to tell a story but never used to say this is what success looks like. In many cases those with the least amount are highlighted as most successful in stories. There are stories of great numbers that seem to indicate success. Scripture is clear that less and more can be seen as success. Let’s look at how Jesus talks about a successful life in the parable of the talents. One made 2 and one made 5. In our culture the one with 5 would be considered the more successful and get the raise, right?  But to both it is said, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”  (Matthew 25:23 ESV) The Apostle Paul encourages Timothy in his 2nd letter to him:

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:3, 10-13 ESV)

Faithfulness is the key word used in scripture for success. Every time someone is highlighted as a success faithfulness is at the center. I define success as being faithful to God’s call. This can apply to every area of life; your fitness, job, marriage, kids, finances, ministry, and your spirituality. Do you know what God has called you to in every area of life? Are you being faithful to that call?