The Stress of Success

Most people may not realize this, but there is a big price for success.  Yet we live in a world where success is idolized and almost worshipped.  The message that we must be successful usually starts at home and then carries on into school life.  So we strive to get good grades so we can move up a level and one day graduate from high school.  Some people want to go on to college or university, so they must be successful in order to graduate.  Then we want to be successful at getting a good job and one that pays well.  Then of course there are some people who are driven to not just get the grade, but to excel in their particular field, so they go for the highest grade point average possible.  And if they want to win a scholarship or get a government grant, they must work even harder to be successful.  Many times if not all of the time the pursuit of success spells S-T-R-E-S-S and one begins to wonder if it is worth all the agony it takes to be really successful. 

Countless people who have gone after inordinate amounts of wealth and success have lost their wife or husband and family because they were too busy to spend the time with them on their way up the ladder.  Some are married multiple times, like many famous Hollywood actors.  As well, some people, like rock stars, who reach high levels of success turn to alcohol and drugs because the stress of their success is just too much for them.  It’s not surprising when we hear of many stories of people who come upon sudden wealth, as in winning the lottery, who end up broke or even worse off than before.  For one thing, you can’t trust anyone any more and friends and relatives that you never knew existed will be at your door!  And you might have to beef up a security system just for your own protection.  This is how royalty and movie stars have to live, rarely leaving home without a body guard.  They have to hide away and when they do go out in public, they have to hide behind big dark sunglasses and a scarf around their head or a hat to avoid being recognized or to avoid the paparazzi.  Most people aren’t prepared for this kind of success and have no idea how to handle it.   

And yet in spite of the many traps we can fall into, almost everyone wants to be successful.  We dream of a receiving a windfall of money so we can quit our job and do what we really want.  We’d love to be able to buy that new car or build a bigger or better house, take that yearned for vacation and go on a wild shopping spree to our favorite stores!  It’s fun to dream and without dreams, we feel we have no escape from the day-to-day mundane routines we find ourselves in.  It is human nature to want to succeed and I believe that God built that into each one of us.  It’s just that His idea of success is very different from our idea.  For instance, we think that if we just had more money or a better job or a bigger house that we will be happier.  And if we have more money we will have more power.  So we tend to equate success with the amount of money we have at our disposal and all the pleasures and treasures it can buy us.  But in reality, this is nothing more than pleasure for a season.  Soon it will wear out and our happiness will be short lived.  Success is not only often difficult to achieve, but as I’ve briefly mentioned, is difficult once you get there.  As well, we’ve all known of or heard of people who are wealthy or who are in a position of leadership or power who seem to lose all sense of accountability thinking that money and personal power can buy them in and out of anything!  And yet the truth is, every single person is accountable for how they handle success, and there are absolutely no exceptions.  King Solomon said it well: 

Ecc. 12:13  Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecc. 12:14  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. NIV     

King Solomon knew what he was talking about.  He was extremely blessed by God, with wisdom, power and great wealth and all that money could buy.  He had it all.  And yet, if you read through all of Ecclesiastes, you see a word he continues to repeat (in the NIV version of the Bible) and surprisingly, that word is “meaningless.” It is mentioned 28 times in this short book of the Bible which has only 12 chapters.  So even though he had it all, he found many things in life that were meaningless. 

Ecc. 12:8  "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!"  

And then he concludes the whole duty of man in verse 13 to fear God and keep His commandments. 

So here we have it from a man who was blessed by God with great wealth and wisdom!  Success by the standards of this world is meaningless unless it reverences God and honors His commandments (remember the most important commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul and mind). Whatever God blesses us with whether it’s wealth, talents, wisdom, skill or abilities, and so on, we are responsible to distribute it to those in need and to use it to glorify God and in some way advance His kingdom.  Jesus said it when He was explaining a parable: 

Luke 12:48  … From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. NIV 

And whether we have much or little, we are accountable for our faithfulness: 

1 Cor. 4:2  Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.  

When we think of success, we think of abundance.  And yet Paul said: 

Php. 3:7  But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

Php. 3:8  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ  NIV 

To put things in perspective, if we are just living here on this earth and we believe that this is all we’re going to get and then we die, it would make sense to go after all that we can accumulate.  Why not?  We have no one to answer to.  We don’t have to be accountable.  But if we believe we are put here on this earth as part of God’s great design and plan and that when we belong to Him we also must live for Him, our perspective of success will radically change.  In fact, it will be the exact opposite of the world’s view of success.  We will welcome personal failure if it means a gain to Christ.  True success is how He defines it for us, and this is written all over His Word. 

Thank you for reading and may you enjoy success today and then bless others with it.