“A faith that has a cross at its center cannot be a faith that worships success.” - E. Stanley Jones
How would you define success?
Climbing a corporate ladder?
Being your own boss?
Retiring early?
Whatever definition of success by the individual or the culture, it likely would not look like the way of the cross.
This is the place where finding your life first looks like losing your life (Matthew 10:39).
This is the way of service, rather than being served (Matthew 20:28).
This is the way of humility (Philippians 2:8).
It is identifying with the sufferings of Christ, so we can share in His glories (1 Peter 4:13).
It is walking with the One who was rejected by his own people and despised (John 1:11, Isaiah 53:3).
This is the narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14).
But this is also the place where the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places (Psalm 16:6).
Where we have life, and life abundantly (John 10:10).
Where we share in the inheritance of the Son (Romans 8:17).
Where we will not die but live, and recount the deeds of the Lord (Psalm 118:17).
What is success? For the follower of Christ? Success is indeed the cross.
Jesus, thank you for the cross. May our lives be marked by the cross more than earthly definitions of success. In Your name, and in Your way, amen.
Seeking,
AB