What Is Success?

For some people [1], success means having a job that makes good money, a spacious home in a safe neighborhood, a car or two, a nice family.  For a handful of others, it means making an extraordinary amount of money, having multiple multimillion dollar homes, expensive cars, private jets, being recognized, having power.  None of this "success" Jesus wanted, even when Satan was willing to give Him "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor" if Jesus would do only two simple things that do not even break a sweat: bow down and worship Satan. [2]

What success meant to the Son of God, the new Adam, was the rejection of Satan and all  of Its temptations.  Success was complete when Jesus died sinless on the cross to save the sinful.  Man, the descendant of the original Adam, believes that success is complete when he is on top, ruling over "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor." [3]  He works to achieve this success not by his own demise but by the demise of all who oppose him. [4]

Man cannot be more wrong in defining his success, which is why loving unconditionally and being loved unconditionally are never mentioned as part of a success story, even when being loved unconditionally is what man desires most for himself and loving unconditionally is what God desires most from man.



[1] People referred to in this entry are regular people, not saints.
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4:1-11
[3] Ibid.
[4] This applies on the battlefield, in the marketplace and on the political front.