The Definition of Success #33
How do you know when a vehicle has succeeded in its mission? Isn’t it when it transports you from point A to point B? How do you know that a guitar has succeeded in its mission? Isn’t it when it produced a good sound? How do you know that a cell phone has succeeded in its mission? Isn’t it when it allowed you to communicate successfully?
By the way, I give all these examples so that we understand that the definition of success is the same for all of us, but its application is different. For all of us, success means accomplishing what we were created to do. The vehicle was created to get us from point A to point B, and that’s why we say a vehicle is a success if it gets you from one place to another. However, you can also use a vehicle as a bedroom, sleeping in it, but since that’s not what the vehicle was created for, by using it this way, the vehicle will not be able to say that it is succeeding in life.
The guitar was created to produce good sound, and that’s why we say that a guitar is a success, when it allows our ears to be rocked with good sound. However, you can use a guitar as a decoration for your home, and it will be beautiful to see, but the guitar will be depressed, because it will not be accomplishing its mission, it will not be succeeding.
The telephone was created to allow us to communicate at a distance, and that’s why we say a telephone is successful, after it has allowed us to talk with the people we love. You can use a phone just as a calculator, but since this is not its primary function but an addition, the phone will also be depressed for not being used to its full potential.
All of these examples are meant to help us understand that, even as humans, our success is defined by what we have come to do here on earth. So you can make a lot of money in one area, but if that’s not what you were created for (the area), you haven’t succeeded. It’s a little bit like the guitar being able to decorate your house well — it seems to be a success because it looks good, but it’s a failure because that’s not what the guitar was created for: it can do more. And that’s a very important principle: you can look like you’re doing well in one area, but if it’s not the one you’re called to do, know that you can do more. Very often we are impressed by our accomplishments, while our Creator is watching and is disappointed, knowing that He created us with the ability to do much more. It’s a bit like a telephone that prides itself on allowing people to do calculations with its calculator function, when in reality it can do so much more, to the point of allowing people miles away to communicate. You get the point ?
What you are proud of, God is ashamed of — Dr. Myles Munroe
It is not a competition
Another thing to know about success is that success does not mean beating someone else in a competition but accomplishing one’s own mission. If a guitar tries to compare itself to a telephone, and tries to allow people to communicate, it will always fail, because it was not created for that. Remember what we talked about in the previous stories on gifts ? You can’t expect to beat someone in the area of their gifting. Besides, we have different gifts not to compete with others, but to complete others. The reason why the Creator said that it is not good for man to be alone (1) is because He knew that one man cannot do everything: we need each other in order to complement each other, not to compete with each other. In teams (sport, family, business, etc.) where members are in competition, it is easy to predict that they will not get very far, because they do not benefit well from each other’s gift, from each person’s contribution to the team’s success.
(1) And the LORD God said, It is not good for man to be alone: I will make him a helper like him.
When you discover what your mission is, focus on it in a spirit of service and not competition, for that is where your success lies. If you don’t, you may find yourself spending your whole life trying to beat someone in a field that is not even yours, and regret it at the end of your life. You risk spending your life like that guitar trying to beat the cell phone, in the field of communication, instead of focusing on your field of music.
And it’s when you know your destination, that it’s easy enough for you to know what’s yours, and what you should leave to others. If the guitar has this mental image of itself making music, it will be easy enough for it to retract, if it finds itself in a situation where it is trying to allow communication between distant people. But without a vision of its destination, it won’t be able to make that distinction. I am aware that sound has been used in other times to communicate messages between neighboring villages, but we all know that it is not its primary function, just as it is not the primary function of the telephone, to be used as a calculator.
It is dying empty
When you download a song from the internet, how do you know that the download has been a success? Doesn’t it have to show 100% downloaded? If the download is limited to 99%, will you be able to listen to the song? No. Then you would say that the download was a failure. It’s the same with success: if you only do 50% of what you’re supposed to do, the download of your success won’t have finished, so people won’t be able to fully enjoy you. The reason why before Jesus died He said “all is accomplished” (mostly in French translations or ‘’it is finished’’ in other Bible versions, mostly the English ones) (2) is because He was aware that He had not accomplished much of His mission on earth, but He had accomplished everything. Paul (one of Jesus’ disciples and author of several books in the Bible) says the same thing about his life: I have finished the race (3).
(2) When Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up the spirit.
(3) For I already serve as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is drawing near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
To die with this feeling of satisfaction, of duty accomplished, without any regrets, it is important that you may not do a great part of your mission but all of your mission. If instead of taking you to your destination, your vehicle leaves you at 5km and asks you to continue by walking, will you be happy? I don’t think so. My prayer for you is that the world will be happy that you were here.
However, as was said at the beginning, you cannot know if you have reached your destination or not, if at the beginning you don’t even know where you are going. If you can say the vehicle didn’t take you where you wanted to go, it’s because you know where you wanted to go. Jesus and Paul knew their destinations, so they could know when they got there. You will too.
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Thank you for reading me :-)
Resources
(1) Genesis 2:18
(2) John 19: 30
(3) 2 Timothy 4: 6–7
