Let God Define your Success

I’ve been recently struck by the deep truth of the importance of faithfulness. Beginning from the apostle Paul captured with His words - “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2Tim 4:7), and with all the saints before and after him (Hebrews 11), as far as God is concerned, success in this world has always been a matter of faithfulness rather than as an event or achievement - however spiritual. In a world of statistics and numbers, of Instagram visuals of worldly success… we need to be reminded of what true success before God is.

Here’s an article written by Dr. Mary C. McDonald entitled

“Called To Faithfulness, Not Success”

If there was ever anyone who had a saintly solution to the ordinary trials of life, however grave, it was Mother Teresa.

“God has called us not to be successful, but to be faithful,” she said.

Her words free us to just keep going, no matter what. She did not set out to be a hero or to win the Nobel Prize. She just focused on lifting up the quality of the lives of the poor who were dying in the streets of Calcutta, day after day, year after year.

There was no one great event, no one moment of sacrifice that would lead her to believe that she wouldn’t be called again. It was those smaller sacrifices, day in and day out, that defined her way of life. That kind of faithfulness is success in itself.

It is not easy to faithfully live out a decision. Ask anyone who has ever started a diet or an exercise program. Just ask someone who has decided on a new career path or vocation in life. Ask someone who decides to do what is morally right, even when others don’t. Ask someone who is committed to doing a good job, even if his efforts are not recognized or appreciated. Just ask someone who refuses to give up on a person or a circumstance and continues on in faith, in hope and in love. Ask them how hard it is to be faithful.

Our calling is not to greatness, but to goodness. Our calling is not to success, but to faithfulness. It is a faithfulness that we are called to in our families, in our employment, in our friendships and in our service to others – whatever we do, wherever we are.

People like Mother Teresa are all around us. They are those who are committed to a faithfulness that disregards weariness or risk as they live out a decision, a promise, a vow, a commitment. It is a faithfulness that knows how to begin, again and again, until the end. I saw one of them today.

I was at the Nashville airport waiting to board a plane when my attention was drawn to a crowd beginning to gather around the window by the gate. They were looking at a plane that had just arrived. On the plane was a soldier returning from his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was coming home, for the last time.

Standing by the plane, waiting to greet him were his wife, his two young children and a military honor guard standing ready to carry his casket from the cargo hold of the plane to the white hearse that had pulled up next to the plane.

As the casket was slowly placed in the hearse, his family, the ground crew, those gathered by the plane, and all of us watching at the window, saluted.

With tears in my eyes, I whispered, “Well done, good and faithful soldier. Thank you for your service and your faithfulness to the end.”