Our culture has come to define success by our materialistic means. If you are not driving the most expensive car, if you aren’t wearing the nicest clothes, or you do not live in the biggest house, you are merely just another average person. Society might esteem you every now and then, but you aren’t a household name, so there’s really no reason for you to think too highly of yourself. Forget the fact that we live in a nation that is far more wealthier than numerous cultures in our world; we have been taught that we always need more than what we already have. Our culture propels us to seek to be the best at whatever cost, to gain the most when we already have enough, and to make ourselves our number one priority. The American Dream is still the symbol of success in our country and is still sought after by millions.
But what if there is a better life than just financial security and a white picket fence surrounding your family home? What if the American Dream can never be fully fulfilled and we are continually having to spend our lives seeking to better ourselves? How can dissatisfaction ever truly lead to success?
“How happy are those who fear the Lord–all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How happy you will be! How rich your life!” {Psalm 128:1-2}
Almost four years ago God finally got me out of the American Dream mindset. He threw me far outside of my comfort zone and sent me to the rarely heard of country of Senegal. The people I met while there were some of the happiest people I have ever met, yet they lived in the midst of poverty. Even though I was removed from my comfort zone, I have never felt more safe or more at home. Of course this blonde haired, blue eyed American stuck out in the crowd, but I was right where I was supposed to be.
God has thankfully called me into a life of fulfillment, a life seeking after his will and not my own. I am not trapped by the American Dream. I am not called to use my life working in some office doing the same routine day after day. God has called me into a life of total abandonment to him. My life will not be defined by how much I make come payday nor how perfect I can make my life seem to others. Rather my success will be defined in how I can use my life fully to glorify God.
Life is too short to not make it memorable. I want to live a life that is exciting. I want to look back one day and say, “I still cannot believe that God wanted to use me for that purpose! Thank you, God!” I want to hand over every aspect of my life to him and allow him to do with it what he will. For I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he knows the desires of my heart and desires to use me to make his name famous. Living a life that is fully influenced by God is the only form of success we should be chasing after.
One of the best resources I have found on this is David Platt’s Radical. I ordered and read the book last summer and it instantly became one of my favorites. If you have not read it, I promise you it will be worth your time to read it.
May we begin to seek approval from none but God and may we begin to view life as God’s story unfolding through us. He desires to make our life better than we could ever imagine; we just have to be willing to walk through the doors he has opened for us. May we begin to forsake the cultural norm of success and see that God desires to define success differently in our lives.