Whatever, Part 1

In my first post I challenged us to make Halftime rather than New Year's resolutions. To really put those Halftime resolutions to work will probably require you to develop a new definition of success. So today, I am sharing some thoughts on rethinking what it means to be successful.

How do you spell success?

I talk to a lot of young(er) adults and I am always curious about their answer to this question. They usually respond with answers that have to do with money, possessions, and positions.

When I was in high school, I took an elective course called “The Psychology of Motivation.” The class was based on a then-popular organization that was selling positive thinking and goal-setting programs.

I still remember the their definition of success:

“Success is the progressive realization of any worthwhile predetermined goal.”

That definition was supported with this encouragement:

“Anything you ardently desire, vividly imagine, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”

Looks like something you would see on one of those motivational pictures in your company’s conference room doesn’t it? You know those pictures of skiers jumping off snowy cliffs or marathon runners breaking the tape.

What’s wrong with those definitions? Read each of those statements again, ... slowly. What’s missing?

The problem is that God is left out. This amounts to practical atheism. We profess to know God, but we leave Him out of our most important decisions.

James, Jesus’ half-brother, identified this problem 2000 years ago, and it still plagues us today:

“Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13-16).

In addition to leaving God out, there’s another problem with our view of success. Too often our view of success is one-dimensional. And it usually centers around our work. If we are successful at work then we are successful. Other arenas of our life are ignored and important relationships - like our marriages and our children - are sacrificed on the altars of our careers.

But God’s view of success is comprehensive. It involves the whole person and informs everything that we do. Maybe we can sum this up in one word “WHATEVER.”

This seems to have been one of the Apostle Paul’s favorite words. Listen to what he says about our thinking:

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen)in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Phillipians 4:8-9)

Now listen to what he says about our work:

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” (Colossians 3:17, 24)

So, here's a your new definition of success for the Second Half: WHATEVER!

And you thought valley talk originated in California in the late 80’s!