Success as True Service

I’ve been writing Christian Fiction for twelve years now and I love it. I’ve written in many genres: period pieces, science fiction, fantasy, and women’s fiction, my latest project being a musical on Nehemiah (so fun!). I currently have six completed manuscripts, and a dozen short stories under my belt. 

But before you ask--no, I’m not published.

Truthfully, I used to get embarrassed when people asked me that. I used to shirk the question -- “oh, that’s a big process” – or make excuses -- “the market is really saturated.” Which is, admittedly, true. But it always felt like there were other questions implied. As though it wasn’t quite enough that I’d committed to my craft, or that I had finished what I’d started. That I enjoyed what I did, or that it was my worship to God and my service to the Body of Christ.

In my mind all I heard was, “cool hobby, but are you good enough to actually be successful?” 

I don’t think I need to belabor the point that our culture is obsessed with worldly success. Self-made success, talent and skill success, celebrity success, even 15-minutes of fame success. We strive for any opportunity to be validated as an individual, looking to people, to the systems of success created by people, to achieve it.

Christians, unfortunately, are no exception. I am no exception. Even though, in many ways we’ve been taught better. We’ve been shown where our treasure lies (Matt. 6:21). We’ve been given a motivation far purer than “self-validation” (Rom 1:16) and many of us have even redefined success as a life of service for others and the church.

But at some point in our lives, we will have to face the insecurities about our own personal success and motivations; and when it comes down to it, answer this very vulnerable question:

Are my choices leading me on a path that serves others, or one that serves myself?

Now, before I continue with my own story, I want to clarify this: success itself is not a bad thing, nor is it new for our heart to want it. The Bible is full of scriptures on how to pray for success, and they show that God is not against granting it. 

Nehemiah prays in Nehemiah 1:11:

“Give your servant success today, by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

Proverbs 16:3 tells us:

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Psalm 37:4 says:

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of you heart.”

And James 4:10:

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

God is not a stranger to hearing our prayers for success. Furthermore, He desires us to be successful in life because His light is needed everywhere, and our callings are diverse, requiring varying degrees of influence and favor. We don’t just belong to ourselves, and neither do our callings. 

But just like many other areas of our Christian lives, our desire for success needs qualifications. It needs boundaries. And it needs fine-tuning. 

Just as we’re taught to use our material wealth generously, lest it rule our heart (Matt 6:24), or to take care what we let our eyes dwell on, lest it cause us to sin (Matt 18:9), our desire for success is equally precarious and requires similar safeguards. Our motivations must be pure, or it is a very dangerous game we play.

Here’s the tricky part…this area can get very grey. 

We might say we want success for His Kingdom, but our motivations are buried. We can see the success of the world, as the favor of God. Many don’t even know the difference until the success is gone, and all they’re left with is the wreckage of their dream and their shattered ego. Then they say, “Oh wow. That was all for me after all.” We hear this all the time. 

So how do we make sure our hearts are pure and that they stay that way? Well, the key is also in the bible verses above. Go ahead, read them again ;).

Over and over, we see the truest way to guard the heart, is to abide in the Living God. Each of these verses extols that we must commit ourselves to, delight ourselves in, and humble ourselves before the Lord constantly. He must be in us, guiding us, correcting us when we go off course, reminding us of the true purpose of our gift, at all times.

Back to my story. 

I have long since stopped being embarrassed of the fact I’m unpublished, whether people mean to criticize or not. It’s been the most singular blessing that I’ve been out of the spotlight as I create, that I’ve been rejected and unseen for eleven years. Because it’s given me countless opportunities to make sure I am not just doing this for myself, and many more opportunities to abide in Him. I know what it’s like to get off track, but then receive grace to try again. And every time I do, I’m more rooted in conviction for what I’m doing, and wiser to my own heart. 

There’s no one-time fix for this in your life, and you won’t purify your motivations just once either. It’s not one choice, but many, many choices.

And yet, if we commit to that journey, maybe, just maybe, our success can be true service.