George Washington Carver once said, "It is simply service that measures success." Sometimes, I look at my life and my plans for the future and I wonder what I'll think of it all at the end of my life. If everything went according to plan, would I look back and be happy with how I lived my life? Would I feel I had anything to show for my years on earth? Anything worthy of being remembered by future generations?
All of these questions are founded on the simple root question, "what is success?" I have already disregarded the idea that success is measured in the amount of material wealth one can amass. That definition seems too shallow and empty to be true. But is success really measured by service as Carver says? While this belief clearly worked well for Carver, is it an overarching principle of life?
This morning I was reading in Matthew chapter 20 and came across verse 26, "... whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant." While the context of this verse is that of greatness of position or authority, I think it can also be applied to personal greatness.
What makes an individual great according to the Bible? Who are the successful ones according to God's Word? Well, the aforementioned verse says that it is those who are servants. Hebrews 11 says that it's those who have faith. Overall, I think it's safe to say that Biblical success involves losing your life that you may find it, loving God and loving others, being a servant to all, and obeying God in trusting faith.
So can success really be boiled down to just service? I think maybe it can. After all, what is service except love embodied in action? With this definition of service, loving God and loving others is encompassed in serving God through trusting obedience and serving others as we wish to be served. The only part of what I mentioned as Biblical success not covered here is our salvation. But then again, that really isn't our success to claim; it's Christ's success over sin and death.
Now, if I were to accept this idea as true and live a life of service, would I then be able to look back and see anything worthy of being remembered by others? There is no guarantee that I will. In all likelihood, there is a strong probability that I will be completely forgotten by history and by my family's descendants. But at the same time, I know that my actions will not be forgotten by God. So perhaps I should not worry about being remembered by man, who is fragile and fleeting, but rather about how I will be remembered by God, who is eternal and steadfast. I think that will be more than enough, even for a history major like me.
