LIE: I cannot succeed unless I promote myself

Lie:      I cannot succeed unless I promote myself.

Truth: Success is a poor substitute for true greatness.

This lie is fraught with false assumptions about the meaning of success. Success in man’s eyes does not equate to success in God’s. Man looks on the outward; God looks on the heart. Man regards a completely different set of values than God; man values material wealth, good looks, superior intelligence, production and achievement; God values the wealth of a man’s character – the transparency of the soul and its willingness to be a lens that glorifies God.

[See the lie: The meaning of life is an unfathomable mystery.]

Success versus Greatness

Success is usually measured in terms of enumeration – things that can be counted: bank balances, house square footage, annual income, tax dollars averted, etc. Success also inhabits the related domain of the numbered: number of subscribers, of customers, of widgets sold, number of congregants, Twitter followers, IQ score, etc. In one sense, there’s nothing wrong with this. After all, Jesus had his multitudes of followers. But there’s also something empty about numbers if that’s the ultimate goal. Do we really want to be ‘famous for being famous,’ or rich, just to be rich, or smart, just to be smart, or accomplished just to be accomplished?

Beware of the technology that seduces us by its ability to artificially inflate even the appearance of success. For some, success has been hollowed out so much that they’ve settled for simply the perception of success, especially now since it can simply be bought and sold like any other commodity. For example, did you know that you can buy fake YouTube views, fake Twitter followers, etc. People do this for a very simple reason: one of the most recognized earmarks of success has now become these numbers: views, followers, subscribers.

Martin Vassilev makes a good living selling fake views on YouTube videos. Working from home in Ottawa, he has sold about 15 million views so far this year, putting him on track to bring in more than $200,000, records show. Mr. Vassilev, 32, does not provide the views himself. His website, 500Views.com, connects customers with services that offer views, likes and dislikes generated by computers, not humans. When a supplier cannot fulfill an order, Mr. Vassilev — like a modern switchboard operator — quickly connects with another. I can deliver an unlimited amount of views to a video,” Mr. Vassilev said in an interview. “They’ve tried to stop it for so many years, but they can’t stop it. There’s always a way around.”[1]

But a taste of success, whether real or fake, too often corrupts us and draws us away from what motivated us in the first place. For example, writers like me, if our stats start to grow, the temptation is to shift our focus to the numbers. Then, the truth becomes only a means to an end: success.  Consequently truth takes a back seat, and greatness is forfeited for ‘success.’

I think we can agree that Jesus was ‘successful,’ but not for success’ sake. Yes, at one period he had a huge following, but he had that following because he was truly a great man. Later, his following dwindled to practically zero, but he had not lost his greatness. Success is ephemeral; true greatness is not.

But what is greatness? Greatness is about the quality, the depth, the purity of a thing. So Jesus was great because of who he was (and is), because of his depth of character – his love and compassion, his wisdom and authority, his devotion to God and his courage and fearlessness in his relation to man.

Glory is manifest greatness. Jesus slowly unveiled his glory as he walked among men:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:14

Moses was enamored with God and desired to see his glory:

So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”

And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you . . .

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. — Exodus 33:17–19a; 34:7–8

Let’s be clear, the desire for greatness and significance is given by God. God created man to be great. King David said, “What is man that you [God] are mindful of him . . . for you have made him a little lower than the angels. And you have crowned him with glory and honor.” (Psalm 8:4–5).

Job was a great man who described himself before his ‘fall’:

Just as I was in the days of my prime . . .
When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;
The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

But why was Job great? Why did everyone honor him so highly? He goes on:

Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.
I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth. — Job 29:4–17

This kind of greatness is far different than the success that the world clamors for and with which it seduces Christians.

John the Baptist also serves as a powerful testimony of one who refused to promote himself. He preached in the wilderness – not too many tourists or even residents there, yet great throngs flocked to hear him. Jesus made the quite shocking claim that John was the greatest man who ever lived:

Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. — Matthew 11:11

Of course Jesus himself demonstrated this kind of greatness and because of it received the Name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9). He showed us the way and it is the way of suffering, of taking up the burdens of others, the burden of sacrificial love.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. — John 12:24‑26

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die. — John 12:32-33

We instinctively know this. Universally we feel compelled to honor someone who risks his life to save another: The soldier who falls on the grenade, shielding his platoon; the one who risks the cold and ice to find food; even the co-worker who works through the night to complete a customer order. Something in us rises up and feels compelled to honor them.

Paul considered his life to be a ‘living sacrifice’ and called us to the same:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. — Romans 12:1

Overcoming Vanity

Jane Austin, through Mary’s voice, said it well:

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.[2]

Vanity – ‘what we would have others think of us’ – drives the search for success. And vanity binds many Christians who, if they’re honest, will admit this vanity, this striving for success or the appearance of it. But what’s the answer? How can we be free of it? The answer is in seeing that success is a poor substitute for greatness; the answer is to abandon the striving for success and instead, seek greatness; the answer is to embrace our weaknesses, failures and our infirmities and their accompanying shame. We do this by simply following Paul’s call to embrace ‘the mind of Christ.’

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. — Philippians 2:5–11

This is the greatness, the true success, that Christians should seek and nothing less – to know the fellowship of His sufferings, to take up our cross daily, in large ways and small, in our marriages and families, among our friends and our co-workers, our neighborhoods, and our churches. If we seek this kind of greatness, over the long term, God will be faithful to lift us up.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. — I Peter 5:6

Do not settle for the smallness of success. Like Jesus, yield yourself and allow God to make you truly great in his eyes, even in the eyes of others. One day – it will come soon enough – we will hear the words of our loving Father in the final day:

‘My child, well done!’

See also: Lie: I am defeated, part 1 and part 2.

See also the introduction to this category: Lies about self-security.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/11/technology/youtube-fake-view-sellers.html captured on August 12, 2018

[2] Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1813.