How Do You Define Success?

How do you define ’success’? Would you say that it is finding the perfect job or career? Would you think that it is finding the perfect mate or circle of friends? Maybe you would say that success is the acquisition of great wealth or property or all of the toys that you have been dreaming about.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines ’success’ as: “The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.” To some degree, on a rudimentary level, this is correct. The thing that has to be considered here is that in order to ‘achieve’, we must first ‘attempt.’ In order for us to attempt something, we must be motivated by the expectation of a goal. The goal that motivates us to attempt to achieve something, if we were to look closely, is happiness. No matter whether we are attempting to achieve a better job or a better relationship or a better standard of living, we are attempting something that will raise our level of happiness.

Money will not bring you happiness. A good and faithful partner will not bring you happiness. A new car or a new home or a huge bank account will not bring you happiness. ( I can almost hear to cynical snickering) They may bring us a degree of ‘pleasure’, which is short lived at best, but they will not bring happiness.

In the Holy Bible ‘happiness’ is related to a feeling of joy. Joy is defined in the dictionary as:

1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son’s success.

2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: Her prose style is a pure joy.

There is nothing in this physical world that can offer ‘joy’, everlasting joy. We are told in the Psalms to delight in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our hearts.(Psalm 34:7) This means that when we draw from the deep source of joy that is the Lord, He will not only give us the desires of our hearts but also He will redefine those desires. This ‘heart’ spoken of in the Psalms is not the fleshy, human heart but the spiritual heart that is the core of our being.

This all defines success as the joy that we get from a deep relationship with our Holy God. This is a driving force for our diligent study of God’s Wisdom. The more we study and learn, the deeper our joy from God grows. Another benefit for diligent study of God’s Word (His Wisdom) is that our focus is on the Creator and NOT the created. Rather than trying to gather the created, we have a direct relationship with the One who created everything that is. This puts us in line with His will, which in turn puts us on a direct path to all success; personal, relational, financial, etc.

Our desire for success is fueled by our desire for happiness. True success is the fulfilling happiness that only God can give us.