WorshipCentral

We live in a society that drives us towards success. There is a pressure on us to get high exam results, to get into the right University, to get a great job, to earn lots of money, to get married, to have the perfect family, to own your own home, to make your life count for something. And this pressure to be successful can drive us into the ground

Recently the Telegraph ran an article entitled,

“How the pressure to succeed is creating a generation of unruly, depressed teenagers.”

In the article it states that the number of 15 year olds suffering from anxiety and depression has increased by 70% since the mid 1980’s.

Even worse - we see the rate of teenage suicide grow as the years go by.

Pressure to ‘fit-in.’

Success isn’t just measured by our achievements. Success is about our need to be accepted and our need to be loved.

Driven by this need we push and push to try and earn respect and gain acceptance. We work crazy hours to gain that promotion. We push our bodies to the limits to make the grade.
But is it ever enough?

As Freddie Mercury the lead singer of Queen wrote,

“You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter type of loneliness. Success has brought me world idolisation and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one true thing we all need - a loving, ongoing relationship.”

I recognise in my own life a need for acceptance and significance.
I frequently feel the pressure to succeed as a husband, as a worship leader, as a song writer, as a friend, even as a Christian.

Ultimately our desire to be loved isn’t wrong in itself.
Nor are our hopes and dreams wrong in themselves.

However for me sometimes my desire for success becomes an unhealthy distraction.

It leaves me exhausted and frustrated.

Antidote to pressure to succeed

I want to share a phrase that I haven’t been able to shake.
It’s been challenging, inspiring and reforming me.

“I am loved by God, and I love God; therefore I am successful.”

Could this simple truth be the secret of success?

I AM LOVED BY GOD

It all starts here.

We love because He first loved us.

Like Michael Angelo’s picture on Sistine Chapel - God’s arm reached down to us.
He initiated.

Just over a month ago - I became an uncle for the first time to little baby Noah. The day after he was born, Rach and I went to visit him in hospital.
Obviously I’m biased but I think he is absolutely gorgeous. But when I stopped to think about it - I couldn’t help realising that little baby Noah to date has caused his parents no end of grief. I mean he put his mother through over 36 hours of agony before deciding to make an appearance.

Not only that, but Noah keeps Mum and Dad up all night, demanding food and attention.
And if that wasn’t enough, he’s costing them an absolute bomb.
I mean there’s a buggy, a car seat, there’s endless nappies and baby clothes.
And do you know what - little baby Noah…hasn’t even said thank you.
No flowers for his Mum, no smile for his Dad.

Yet watching his Mum and Dad - they love him with all their heart.
He doesn’t have to do a thing - they just adore him.
They could spend hour upon hour simply gazing at him.

They love him…because he’s there’s.

Jesus

At start of Jesus’ ministry, when He is baptized, in Matt 3:17, we see the heavens open, and a voice from heaven proclaim,

“This is my son whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Before Jesus had performed any great miracles, before he’d healed anyone, before he’d raised anyone from the dead - His father was pleased with Him.

We need to learn to accept the free gift of God’s love.
We need to learn that it cannot be earned
It is not distributed according to our success.
It’s a free gift lavished upon us.

David

Perhaps one of the characters in the bible that most understood this was King David. In the bible we see time and time again evidence that David did not link his earthly success or lack of it, with his acceptance of God’s love.

Ps 17:8 - “Keep me as the apple of Your eye.”
Clearly David had already made the assumption that he was the apple of God’s eye.

Psalm 18:19 - “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because He delighted in me.”

Psalm 41:11 - ‘I know that You are pleased with me.’
How many of us feel that we could say this with confidence before God?

Psalm 139 - “For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”

David was grounded in the knowledge of God’s pleasure and love for him.
This truth liberated him.

It’s as if he’d say to God - I KNOW YOU LOVE ME

When he messed up - I’m sorry God, but I KNOW YOU LOVE ME
When full of fear and doubt -Where are you God, I KNOW YOU LOVE ME

When we truly accept this simple, yet startling statement of truth, it has the power to transform our perception of success.

Success doesn’t get better than being loved by God.

I am loved by God and I love God, therefore I am successful.