For most of us, success brings great joy. A commentary on success from the last century says: “Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”
So in the context of Teen Challenge, does this message have relevance?
Not only should we seek to be successful—as God defines success—but we also need to be attentive to the dangers of success, and the danger of believing that our success will last. Jesus was successful in achieving His mission here on earth. Yet He never let His popularity with the masses go to His head. Instead, on the rare occasions when He talked about Himself, He described Himself as “humble and lowly”. Does that sound like the words of a successful, popular, better than anyone else person?
Certainly God desires for you to be successful, but can God trust you with success? Or will you come to the place of believing that all the credit for your success belongs to you?
As we seek to do what God has called us to do, the Word of God challenges us to be
diligent, to be alert. “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 New Living Translation)
If you have driven a car safely for 5, 10, or 20 years, your past success in no way
guarantees your future. You can get into a car today and if you are careless or distracted, you can easily get into an accident. The only way you can continue to be successful at safe driving is that you remain vigilant every time you get behind the wheel.
Success is never final because every day brings new challenges—and new opportunities to be careless and distracted—to come to the place where we believe we deserve the perks that go with success.
The older we get, the more we need to be attentive to the responsibility we have to be diligent, to be alert, to avoid the destructive temptations of Satan and to keep our eyes focused on doing what God wants us to do each day.
And success at any Teen Challenge center is never final. New staff do not automatically come as effective in ministry as those who preceded them. New policies can take a ministry down a different path that compromises the successes achieved in the past. New students come with a different set of problems.
May we not let the world squeeze us into its mold when it comes to measuring success. May we be ever vigilant to keep our focus on God’s view of success.
