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"Any time we allow the roles we are given to shape our identity then the need for success comes into play. If our roles are working well we feel good about who we are. God forbid the results of our roles should be less than what we (or others) expect."
If we were able to live this life without having to worry about success, I don't think victim thinking would play the role it does in society today. We worry about succeeding for so many different reasons. Some of us worry that if we don't succeed we won't be viewed in a manner that our fragile egos require. Others of us use success a a symbol that brings the kind of status needed to overcome the doubts that plague us all. Then there are those who make success all about beating out everyone else so that they are number one. Whatever the reason for success, the worry about success drives so much of the victim thinking tragedies that the world faces today.
Success, like so many other things we gravitate to in our world has so much to do with identity. We want people to see us in a certain light. Success is an amazingly good strategy when it comes to shining the light we want on our lives. It is good, that is, until it doesn't work so well. It is when success doesn't come as we expect or in the timing we require that this well worn way to identity fails us all.
God never intended for success to be the foundation of who we are. He knew that this world would make success something that we couldn't depend on when it comes to our identity needs. Success isn't a bad thing. It is just that this characteristic in a person's life can't be trusted to make us who we want to be seen as. It is when we let success be a tool rather than a foundation that the world seems to work in ways that let us better understand our victor status.
When we are in a place where we are driven to worry about success it is so easy to find ourselves in places where God is so hard to see. Why is that? I think today's Bible reading sheds a little light on that subject. Our reading says...
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
I'm amazed at that last line. It is as though Matthew was making fun of us for the fact that we can't even add a single hour to our lives. Life and death are a piece of cake to God. Adding and subtracting time isn't a big deal to Him. It sure is to us! God is saying through Matthew that if we can't even do something as simple as turning back the clock in our lives, why would we ever worry about the trappings of success?
It is like food, clothing, money, status - they are all such simple things to this God or ours. If there were a ranking of difficult tasks, changing time would be toward the top of the list while provision would be way down the list. Matthew is trying to get us to realize that, with God anything is possible. For that reason, shouldn't we trust Him for the things we think we need in this life?
It is when the things we think we need in this life are used for purposes of identity building that trouble really starts to happen. If we think we are something less because we don't have the best clothes, the most food or the right amount of success, God's heart breaks for us in ways I'm not sure we fully understand.
He wants us to know who we are so that the ravages of this world don't get us to do things that make trading our God-given identity for a world focused one something we would ever contemplate. Worrying about success is one of those strategies that get us in that place of doubt so quickly.
I believe God wants us to go after all the success we feel drawn to pursue. He's not worried about you getting too much. It is when we tie who we are to how much we get that success makes our lives something God hates for us to experience.
As you do what you are called to do today, remember this. You are as successful as you will ever need to be to be seen as the victor God calls you to be. If the rest of your life is filled with failure, God loves you just as completely as if you were the most successful person in the world. Hang on to that fact and go after all the good things that God has prepared for you to experience today.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
I'm amazed at that last line. It is as though Matthew was making fun of us for the fact that we can't even add a single hour to our lives. Life and death are a piece of cake to God. Adding and subtracting time isn't a big deal to Him. It sure is to us! God is saying through Matthew that if we can't even do something as simple as turning back the clock in our lives, why would we ever worry about the trappings of success?
It is like food, clothing, money, status - they are all such simple things to this God or ours. If there were a ranking of difficult tasks, changing time would be toward the top of the list while provision would be way down the list. Matthew is trying to get us to realize that, with God anything is possible. For that reason, shouldn't we trust Him for the things we think we need in this life?
It is when the things we think we need in this life are used for purposes of identity building that trouble really starts to happen. If we think we are something less because we don't have the best clothes, the most food or the right amount of success, God's heart breaks for us in ways I'm not sure we fully understand.
He wants us to know who we are so that the ravages of this world don't get us to do things that make trading our God-given identity for a world focused one something we would ever contemplate. Worrying about success is one of those strategies that get us in that place of doubt so quickly.
I believe God wants us to go after all the success we feel drawn to pursue. He's not worried about you getting too much. It is when we tie who we are to how much we get that success makes our lives something God hates for us to experience.
As you do what you are called to do today, remember this. You are as successful as you will ever need to be to be seen as the victor God calls you to be. If the rest of your life is filled with failure, God loves you just as completely as if you were the most successful person in the world. Hang on to that fact and go after all the good things that God has prepared for you to experience today.
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