34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Jesus asked a confronting question: What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul?
Success is not wrong. Achievement, progress and fruitfulness can honour God. But success becomes a road to ruin when gaining more matters more than becoming like Jesus.
The world usually measures success by visibility, wealth, influence and accomplishment. Jesus measures life by faithfulness, love, obedience and surrender.
It is possible to succeed publicly while slowly becoming empty privately. We can gain applause while losing peace, integrity, relationships or attentiveness to God.
Jesus invites us to examine not only whether we are reaching our goals, but what pursuing those goals is doing to our soul.
The most important question is not, “Am I getting ahead?” It is, “Am I following Jesus?”
What might I be sacrificing in order to feel successful?
Jesus, redefine success for me. Protect me from gaining things that cost me my soul. Teach me to value faithfulness, obedience and love above recognition. Amen.
