Reflections On Success (Or A Lack Thereof)

Some time ago I found myself being dragged into the world's mould. I began to notice how many of my colleagues had made it farther up the corporate ladder and found myself bemoaning the fact that I had only received one real promotion in 17 years. The fact that I was always one to fret over financial security, as my wife will readily attest, contributed to this drag. That my family was at that point reasonably well looked after (we, a family of 4, were surviving quite nicely on one income) was beside the point – what about the future? At some point I read an article that helped me understand the process I was going through and get out of the rut I was in. I won't attempt to summarize the article, but I will describe the results.

The article encouraged me to look at my situation. I was a Christian (Presbyterian all my life, believer since university days), husband, father of two (boy born 1977, girl 1980), elder and Sunday School superintendent in my church, with a fairly heavy load there. As a Christian, I was known by God and I knew Him. I was trying to follow where he led, and had taken on the responsibilities of marriage, fatherhood, eldership and the superintendency with a fairly clear indication that these were things the Lord wanted me to do. When I began looking at my circumstances in this light I could see that in His terms, I was a success. Furthermore, He had given me so many responsibilities in the local church that I probably couldn't have handled any increase at work. This brought me to a state of peace with God, and helped ease my fears about the future – if it was in His hands, it really couldn't be more secure. Ah, the peace of God that passes all understanding!

The interesting thing is what happened next – although the "next" was over an extended period – "in His time". To make a long story short, I received a promotion and financial security is no longer a concern. Responsibilities have shifted somewhat, more at work, different ones at church and in the family (father of two teenagers!). The active verse these days seems to be Luke 12:48b: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked". Along with this comes the sense that the Lord is with me, and will never give me anything I can't handle with His strength. What more can I say? How about "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow!"

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