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From Luke’s Journal Sept 2025 | Vol. 30 No. 2 | Success-Failure

The article includes excerpts from “Redefining Success according to Jesus”.

Medical professionals are well familiar and know the importance of crucial warnings. We often caution people about the serious risks to their physical, mental, and emotional health. Our warnings are never casual, but important and urgent, because ignoring them can lead to harmful consequences.

But how attentive are we to the warnings from the Creator, Lord and the ultimate Physician, Jesus Christ?

Beyond alerting us about eternity—heaven or hell—Jesus draws our attention to subtle yet powerful threats to our relationship with our Father in heaven and well-being. Too often, His warnings are ignored, taken lightly, or drowned out by the noise of daily life. How easily we choose comfort over conviction, and a hectic schedule over being still and listening to Jesus!

Your “light” might be “darkness”

Jesus warned us,

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23 NIV).

Our perceived light—what we consider helpful, including our definition of success—may harbour hidden darkness that we struggle to recognise. The hidden darkness may include biases, prejudices, misconceptions, limitations, or weaknesses. What we don’t know is unknown to us. Everyone has these blind spots.

Which foundational values that we consider as good and helpful are, in fact, flawed and harmful?

How is your definition of success harming you and your family, church and relationships?

During my time in school, my father placed a strong focus on academic excellence because he wanted us to succeed. When I came second in a maths test, I expected praise. Instead, he said, “These questions you got wrong, they are so easy. How could you be so stupid?”

I was devastated. Anything less than 100% seemed like a failure to him. I spent the majority of my adolescence feeling hurt and exhausted while attempting to gain his approval. Decades later, my father realised that his perfectionism and worldly definitions of success had caused harm. He graciously permitted me to share these stories, hoping they might help others.

When my children came along, my blind spots damaged them. I was caught off guard. One day, when my daughter told me she had ranked eighth in high-level maths, I thoughtlessly said, “I thought you were good at maths.”

She was deeply hurt. I had unwittingly caused my father’s harm again. Even though I believe that what matters most is to be successful in God’s eyes, my top priority was to encourage my daughter to excel academically. My actions did not align with my words. Thankfully, my daughter had the self-confidence to correct me. We reconciled after I apologised. Both my father and I, as Christians, were still blinded by worldly success.

Too often, middle-class values and the world’s definition of success influence our foundational beliefs, ambitions and practice more than the teaching of Jesus. But we might be unaware.

Discovering our middle-class blind spots

I am grateful to have grown up in a middle-class family with access to healthcare, education and work. While many middle-class aspirations are not inherently immoral, did you know some have a dark side and can be harmful, especially when taken to extremes?

Individual responsibility can spiral into imbalanced individualism, self-reliance and isolation. Working conscientiously can drift to workaholism and perfectionism. Healthy consumption of essentials can escalate into hyper-consumerism and the “never-enough syndrome”. Self-care or enjoying life can turn into the pursuit of comfort, and we become soft, self-absorbed Christians.

The world defines success according to possessions (money, house, car, clothes), jobs, achievements, appearance, popularity, and other symbols. In my book, Redefining Success according to Jesus, I call this the “success cancer”, and Christians are not immune because we are immersed in the dark side of middle-class values.

Just as meat or tofu absorbs the flavours of a marinade, we naturally take on the values of the world around us. Many churches and Christians unknowingly define success in much the same way as the broader culture. We may attempt to “Christianise” this view by teaching that achievements and possessions must come through honest hard work or faith, or by obeying God’s Word, or by being filled with the Holy Spirit. Each denomination has its recipe for success. Yet the dreams, goals and measures of success often end up mirroring the world’s standards more than Jesus’.

Perhaps, greed is a blind spot in our modern discipleship.

Regarding money, Timothy Keller¹ once said,“When it takes hold of your heart, it blinds you to what is happening, it controls you through your anxieties and lusts, and it brings you to put it ahead of all other things. Why can’t anyone in the grip of greed see it?”

Thirty-two years ago, a church leader helped us move into the first home we bought – a modest three-bedroom fibro house on a busy street. Looking around, she said, “This is a nice house, for a first house.” I later wondered if it was praise or subtle criticism. Likely, her intent was kind, but her worldview assumed that a successful professional, especially a doctor, would advance to something “better.”

Upward mobility is a middle-class definition of success, not the teachings of Jesus.

My wife and I resisted this definition of success by choosing contentment and remaining in the same home (other than when we lived in Kenya as missionaries for 12 years). But it was painful when I realised my 11-year-old son viewed me as a failure compared to his friends’ fathers. Our house was a source of embarrassment for him. Most of his friends lived in better homes, some in mansions with water views.

He expressed his disappointment, “Dad, I wish you had stayed as a doctor in Australia because then you would have earned a lot of money and we could buy a bigger house, two storeys, with a pool… and you could buy me –” (He had a long list). I tried to explain our priorities, “For your mum and me, life isn’t about houses or cars. It’s about following Jesus and doing His mission.” He replied, “Dad, you can just say you follow Jesus and do whatever you want. People at church do that.”

Some of his friends who lived in bigger and better houses attended church. He concluded that their parents claimed they followed Jesus while doing as they pleased, living for their own ambitions and lifestyle.

If we claim to follow Jesus, we must stop defining success according to worldly standards and instead redefine success according to Jesus (Romans 12:1-2).

We suffer harm when we practice worldly success. We feel inadequate because someone else has more and better. We are anxious, afraid, restless and suffer from the “never enough” syndrome. We might be “successful” at work, but neglect our marriage and family. Worst, especially when we appear outwardly successful, we might succumb to pride and spiral into independence from God.

Jesus gave a double warning,

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15 NIV).

In one sentence, Jesus decisively challenged worldly success. If we heed Jesus’ warning, we don’t have to succumb to middle-class values and worldly success and suffer the accompanying harm.

When we connect with the real Jesus of the Bible and receive His help, we can refute worldly success and redefine what success means.

Jesus’ definition of success

Jesus’ definition of success in Luke 12:13-34 is clear: being God’s children, focusing on the Kingdom, and giving generously.

Sounds easy? Yes! In theory. 

In practice, it is most challenging. This is because worldly success is subtle and seductive and we have many blind spots. We might think that being Kingdom-focused entails making more sacrifices or incorporating a little more of God. However, that’s not how Jesus defines success. He desires to transform us from the inside out: to replace our core from independence and self-focus with a dependency on God, and prioritise our identity and security of being God’s children over our place our titles, achievements, employment and possessions. It is easier said than done. Think of the last time you introduced yourself to a colleague, or the things that you have lost sleep over. I feel the pressure of not having enough in my superannuation. I am tempted to feel a bit of a failure when I compare my house with my peers, who became specialists.

Kingdom values, including giving generously, emanate from taking on the identify of God’s children and impact every facet of our lives, such as our families, work, church, achievements, money, lifestyle, etc. More than our story, every aspect becomes a part of His story. Then, we might gain the courage to explore serving overseas or in regional Australia, instead of staying in “cushy suburbs”.

And how does Jesus define generosity?

Jesus’ notion of generosity is not always met by increasing our contribution from 10% to 20%. In the days of Jesus, the rich used to boast about their generosity by jiggling their bags of coins, and many in the crowd were impressed.

But listen to Jesus’ assessment,

“While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, ‘this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has’.” (Luke 21:1–4 NLT).

Jesus never defined tithing or percentages as an act of generosity. He focused on the heart behind giving and what we keep for ourselves.

At the peak of her career in private practice, God surprised Dr Renee Lockey by planting an idea that led to a drastically different way of thinking, living and giving: “Work like a doctor and live like a nurse.” By radically limiting her spending to a nurse’s salary and giving away the rest, Lockey redefined success and experienced peace, confidence and purpose.²

Perhaps you are now recognising some worldly success blind spots and the harm that comes with them.

Take courage.

Now that we have accepted the diagnosis that we have “success cancer”, we can turn to the Great Physician for His cure. Remember, you cannot redefine success according to Jesus on your own! We need other like-minded followers of Jesus to point out our blind spots. Mutual support and accountability are key. Take the initiative to be transparent about your struggles to refute worldly success, start with your spouse, children and close friends. As followers of Jesus, we are better together.

For more on the topic of redefining success, go to https://redefiningsuccess.com.au

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