Abstract: In a media-centered society dominated by messages of comparison and excess, individuals struggle to find contentment as they chase after the constantly changing definition of success. These pressures are so grand that some fall into deep anxiety and depression, believing that if they don’t live up to these expectations, they will have a meaningless life. This article aims to provide an objective definition of success embedded in our design as humans that exhorts believers not to chase after society’s elusive definition of success but to seek to know God, to glorify and enjoy Him forever as expressed in the Westminster Larger Catechism.

Key Words: Success, Wealth, Vanity, Christian stewardship, Identity, Contentment, Eternity

Definition of Success

     It is not a hard endeavor to define success, but it can be subjective. The Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English defines success as “the accomplishment of an aim.” What defines success depends on your personal measure of success. For one, success looks like being rich at age 25, another would be having a good family life, for someone else to get a promotion or get accepted into a well-known school. Money, family, education, and career are only some measures of success. Depending on which you choose, your perspective on success will then change and embody the goal you have set. 

     Thus, we are left with an important question: what is the ultimate measure of success? Christians in this social media age will wrestle with this daily. As the world keeps on producing messages, and images of what success should be, and revealing to us how fulfilling it can be. To that we should always remind ourselves that true success can only, and truly be understood with the design of mankind in mind. When humans are blind to who they are, they will look for something to tell them who they ought to be. 

Catechism and Creeds 

     Creeds and Catechisms are central to Christian tradition. These documents and declarations helped the Church to define core doctrines or beliefs that Christians must live by. The Westminster Larger Catechism (Catechism) is a fundamental reformed theological document in which questions on many doctrinal topics are addressed, specifically, those that pertain to salvation and the Christian life. The Catechism presents its content in the form of a “question and answer,” declaring what Scripture says on the topic at hand, whilst leading the reader to awe and wonder. The very first question of the Catechism:  What is the highest end of man? In response, the following answer is given: 

Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

     The Catechism defines success as living in a way that is in accordance with our design, one that is at it is core, crafted to know and be in relationship with God, glorifying and enjoying Him for eternity. When we live in such a way, we will find true contentment. No matter our social status and our wealth, we will not need to chase after success to find validation any longer, for we will already be successful. By putting our foundation on God’s word, we will find our identity, and any success that we have in this life will be a blessing from God through which His glory is displayed. God designed us to be in a relationship with Him, and that very relationship is our fulfillment.  We don’t need to climb the ladder of success or strive after meaningless things, but we must endeavor to honor God in our work, by working diligently and with excellence.

Vanity, Oh, Vanity!

     Social media, TV shows, movies, and advertisements, the world thrives in marketing IDs for its audience. Our identity as a person is something we have tried to define since we were teenagers, and what we see on our screens has a deep influence on shaping us. When we, or our loved ones, battle with anxiety, we are led to grasp things that could reassure us instantly. Ironically they are like candies that look delectable and sweet on the outside, yet once consumed, turn sour. In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Hebrew word for vapor is  Hevel refers to meaninglessness or vanity. In Ecclesiastes 5:10, the teacher focuses on the vanity of riches:

 Whoever loves money never has enough;

    whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

    This too is meaningless.

 

     The Bible is no stranger to the topic of success and riches, the books of wisdom (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job) all warn of the danger of making our soul’s main desire the pursuit of success and riches that ultimately leads to endless dissatisfaction. Yet it does not condemn one who is successful but points to the heart of the issue: to love or to pursue success. To pursue success is to chase after worldly, and ultimately, meaningless things. To pursue success can lead to disastrous endings. Without grounding our minds and hearts in God’s word, we will constantly chase after idols, forgetting who we are in Christ and believing the lies that the enemy of our soul so gladly serves to our discontented minds. 

A Deadly Craving

     On August 22, 2006, the New York Times published an article entitled “The Fame Motive.” In it, the author, Benedict Carey presents some of the impetus behind one’s pursuit of success, while not omitting the repercussions of that neverending chase:

Their fame-seeking behavior appears rooted in a desire for social acceptance, a longing for the existential reassurance promised by wide renown. . .Still, scholars, psychologists, and some celebrity memoirists seem to agree that, for all its rewards, fame can also eat its own—as the historian Leo Braudy has written, “lurking behind every chance to be made whole by fame is the axman of further dismemberment.”

     Leo Braudy’s quote “Every chance to be made whole,” touches on the most important reason why people chase after success: to be truly known. We believe we can find value, meaning, wholeness, joy, and satisfaction through success. But as we all know intuitively, the joys of success and riches are short-lived, they might give stability and security in a sense, but one can not deal with the sinful reality of the human soul which, in the words of St Augustine, “is restless until it rests in God.” 

     There is a famous essay that has been circulating since 1948, referred to by Forbes as The 9 Financiers, A Parable About Power. In this allegory, names of famous individuals from the 1920s are mentioned and their tragic deaths are depicted. Three died of suicide: Ivar Kreuger, Jesse Livermore, and Leon Fraser. The cause of their tragic deaths was correlated to an endless chase after riches, as one gambled, another manipulated the market, and one suffered from depression caused by an extremely lonely life. Their success was measured by a crooked plumbline by which they built not just their life, but their existence. When that untrustworthy plumbline was removed, their lives lost all meaning, and even perhaps, value. In other words, pursuing power, wealth, and worldly success instead of God, can lead to a greater emptiness. 

     We must look at our lives and evaluate the depth of our roots in Christ, to assess if our house is founded on the rock of Christ or the sinking sand of the world. Some of us might not relate to this hunger for riches and success, but we can all relate to the deep desire to have a sense of security, to have financial stability, to have a roof over our heads, and food on the table. I would like to invite you to reflect upon your own fears and desires and to ask yourselves where these find their source. Are your fears founded upon insecurities of the future? Your desires, do they find their source in empty promises of the world? If that is the case, then our lives are not founded on the Rock, but instead on untrustworthy sand that will  tumble down when the storm comes.

Ancient Words Ever True

     Catechisms and creeds help us to answer complex theological questions by formulating profound statements. As we live on this side of eternity, we will be tempted to find meaning in worldly matters instead of God, to define our so-called “success” by what we own or do. When we look at the Westminster Larger Catechism, we are reminded that true success is embedded in our design as humans. We are exhorted to not chase after society’s elusive definition of success but to seek to know God truly, to find our joy and purpose in Him alone. 

“In him we live and move and have our being”   

     God’s words in Psalm 73 are ancient words that prove our fleshly desire for validation, success, and wealth, are not new. Even in our sinful attention, God remains true and good—the only one that can truly satisfy us:

73 A Psalm of Asaph.

Truly God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

10 Therefore his people turn back to them,

and find no fault in them.

11 And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12  Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

14  For all the day long I have been stricken

and rebuked every morning.

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

19 How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

20 Like a dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

21 When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

22  I was brutish and ignorant;

I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

28 But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.