Redefining Success

Roger was a very gifted entrepreneur. He started small, living in an ordinary home on the outskirts of Johannesburg and drove a modest car, even as his income grew significantly.

Today, he is retired and a multimillionaire, yet very little about his lifestyle has changed. He still lives in the same house, in the same neighbourhood, and drives an average car. He never felt the need to prove his success to anyone.

Instead, he saw his financial success as a tool for a greater purpose. His income was not primarily about personal comfort. It was a resource to serve God's kingdom. By redefining success like this and living it consistently for decades, he demonstrated that true wealth is not measured by what we accumulate but by how faithfully we steward what we've been entrusted with.

Most entrepreneurs, Christian or otherwise, define success in monetary terms. But the Bible never does. Consider the parable of the talents: when the master returns and settles accounts, he does not commend the size of the return. He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." His delight is in the faithfulness. The servant who buried his talent wasn't called unlucky; he was called "wicked and lazy" because he was unfaithful.

For the believer, success is not defined by wealth, but by faithfulness with what God has entrusted to you.

And faithfulness has a wider scope than your business. Jesus commands us to love God with all that we are, not just with our companies. Building a profitable business while being unfaithful in your marriage, your parenting, or your community is not biblical success. The final account covers everything.

In Matthew 6:19, Jesus offers a different investment proposition altogether: lay up treasure in heaven, where nothing can destroy it. That is the return worth building toward.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Write down three characteristics of success in your industry. Then ask honestly: are these primarily about God's kingdom, or your own advancement?
2. Where might God be calling you to choose faithfulness over conventional success in the next season?

PRAYER

Father, please work in my heart. Please help me to seek your kingdom first, to handle what you've entrusted to me with faithfulness, and trust you with the outcomes. On the day when all accounts are settled, may I hear "Well done", not because I built something impressive, but because I was faithful.

Amen.