Love: Fighting the Ism's - "Successism"
Part 2 in This Series
Last week we defined “Successism” as a term used to describe a cultural mindset or ideology that places high value on a person’s achievements, productivity, and professional and/or financial success as measures of human worth. For me, I like achieving. I like being productive. I like success. In truth, I don’t believe that in and of themselves any of these are wrong. The problem comes when these become more important that the people in my life and my relationship with God.
The culture that most of us live in puts a very high value on being successful. People measure us by our success. That can be the home we live in, the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the title we hold, the amount of money we have, the school we graduated from, and the list goes on. You know what I think is very interesting? At the end of our lives, none of these matter. At your funeral, if those measures of success are the only things that people have to say about you, is that how you want to be remembered? One day that home will either fall down or be torn down. The car will end up on a junk heap. The clothes will be out of style. The money will be spent by someone else. The diploma, at best, will lie in a box in someone’s attic.
“Successism” does not lead to success in the most important parts of our lives. It does not make me a better husband. Sure there may be more money to spend on my wife and my kids but those things are a very poor substitute for me in their lives. Success, for me, needs to be redefined. I want it to be date nights with my wife, sitting in the stands of my grandkids games, gathering around the table with family, doing something every day to show Nancy how much I love her and what she means to me and slowing down so I don’t miss any opportunity that God puts in front of me.
I want my success to be first and foremost defined by my relationship with the God who made me. I want to start and end my day with Him. I want to invite Him into the innermost part of my life. I want my success, one day, to be, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Honestly, I wrestle with “successism” almost every day. There is a draw to it and the accolades it brings from the world. It’s tempting isn’t it? Don’t forget that Jesus was tempted. Satan, three times laid “successism” at Jesus feet and three times Jesus said no. Jesus stayed focused on the plan laid out for His life. That was success for Him and He will help us to have real success in our lives, too!
A couple of things to think about.
For your life today, how are you defining success?
How does that compare to God’s plan for your life?
What needs to change?