By Tom Yaccino

We all desire to be “successful” in those things that we put our hearts and sweat and time into.  We all desire to celebrate when we make it across the river, finish the race, or get good results from the work of our hands.  Through it all, we claim God’s grace and miraculous intervention in our lives. We thank God for helping us “succeed.” But ironically, in the vocabulary of God’s Kingdom, the word “success” does not mean what we so often think it means.

Jesus himself would hardly measure up against today’s definition of success.

The biblical narrative seems to highlight failure unabashedly. The Old Testament relates story after story of how God’s chosen people failed to carry out His plans. They rejected God’s Divine plan to be a people set apart under God’s rule, choosing instead to elect their own national King. Israel wanted to be like the other nations and bought into that view of success. King Saul, whose attributes and appearance had success written all over them, ultimately failed as a leader. Likewise, his popular young successor, King David, was a failure as a parent, husband and trustworthy leader.

Jesus himself would hardly measure up against today’s definition of success. Great numbers of His disciples abandoned Him early on in His ministry when things appeared to be out of control. And after His arrest and crucifixion, His inner circle betrayed, rejected, and abandoned Him. The Bible is riddled with stories of real failure and doubt.  “Where are you God?” “Are you the One or should I wait for another?” “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” “Do you love me?”

Antonio Gonzales says that the essence of the Adamic framework unleashed into the world after the break from unity with God in the garden is this: that we justify ourselves by the fruit of our labors.

God chooses to teach us about real success through the failed, weak, and flawed characters of His divine narrative.  The upside-down Kingdom warns us that the glitter and shine that the world calls “success” is nothing more than rust on the surface of our lives and circumstances.

How did we become so captivated by the claims of worldly success?

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