Essay:When Success Stops Being the Measure (Nehemiah Maxwell)
A personal Christian reflection by Rev. Nehemiah Maxwell.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV).
As I thought about years of work, plans, and hopes, I found myself smiling.
Something was becoming clear to me.
“I’m free. Praise God, I’m free.”
I had spent years putting time, money, and effort into different ventures. More recently, I had built nearly six hundred pages for a website intended to help Christians establish an online presence. I had worked honestly and followed through, hoping the work would also produce an income.
I was not down on myself. I knew I had made a serious effort. What I was beginning to question was an assumption about how effort and success fit together.
I had finally begun to understand that a person can work diligently, make thoughtful plans, and still experience a very different outcome from someone who appears to have followed a similar path.
Contents
The Stories We Hear
We hear about companies such as Amazon and Walmart. We study how they began, the difficulties they faced, and the decisions that helped them grow. There are useful lessons in those stories.
But what about the people whose companies never became household names?
Some of them also worked hard, studied their markets, took risks, and tried to serve their customers well. Their stories seldom become the examples we are encouraged to follow.
When we hear mainly from those who succeeded, it becomes easy to mistake a description of one person’s experience for a formula that will produce the same result for everyone.
We can learn from someone’s success while remembering that the story does not include everyone who made a comparable effort.
Ability Does Not Settle Every Outcome
The same reality appears in sports.
A person can be a good basketball player without ever reaching the NBA. Talent and disciplined practice matter, but opportunities, injuries, timing, resources, and decisions made by others also affect the outcome.
The person who never reaches the professional level may still have considerable ability.
As I considered this, a ministry example came to mind: a person can be a good preacher without ever becoming the pastor of a megachurch.
A large congregation can be a wonderful opportunity to serve. A small congregation also contains people who need faithful teaching, prayer, encouragement, and care.
The number of people listening cannot, by itself, tell us everything about the faithfulness of the person speaking.
A Reality Scripture Recognizes
Ecclesiastes describes the limits of human ability and expectation:
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
— Ecclesiastes 9:11 (KJV)
This observation does not make wisdom, strength, or skill worthless. It recognizes that the outcome of life cannot always be predicted from those qualities.
There are circumstances we cannot foresee and events we cannot control. Recognizing those limits can help us approach both our own disappointments and other people’s struggles with greater humility.
We should be careful about assuming that everyone who prospers followed a superior formula, or that everyone who struggles must have lacked discipline or faith.
We should also be careful about turning another person’s testimony into a promise God has made to us.
Planting, Watering, and Trusting God
Paul wrote:
“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”
— 1 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV)
In this passage, Paul is addressing divisions in the Corinthian church and explaining the roles of Christian ministers. He and Apollos were servants through whom the Corinthians had believed. Their work mattered, but the growth came from God.
This passage is not a promise that every business venture will prosper. Its ministry setting reminds me to take my responsibilities seriously while recognizing that I cannot command the results.
Later, Paul writes:
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
— 1 Corinthians 4:2 (KJV)
A steward is someone entrusted with a responsibility. In context, Paul is speaking about servants of Christ entrusted with the mysteries of God. Faithfulness is central to that responsibility.
That gives us an important question to bring to Christian service: Have we handled what has been entrusted to us faithfully?
Public recognition, income, and attendance figures may tell us something about particular outcomes. They cannot replace that question.
Freedom to Make Wise Decisions
Recognizing these limits still leaves room for honest evaluation.
A plan may need correction. We may need advice, further training, a different approach, or a decision to stop investing in something that is not working. Faithfulness includes being willing to learn and to handle our time and resources wisely.
We can examine a disappointing result without treating it as a complete verdict on our character, ability, or relationship with God.
We can also appreciate someone else’s success without requiring our lives to follow the same pattern.
I can continue writing, creating, learning, and serving. I can make adjustments as the evidence changes. I can acknowledge a loss, change direction, or bring a project to a close when wisdom calls for it.
The work remains real, even when its outcome differs from what I hoped.
The Freedom I Found
As these thoughts came together, I understood why I was smiling.
I still wanted my work to bear fruit. I still hoped to earn an income and help people. Those desires had not disappeared.
What I could release was the expectation that enough honest effort must eventually produce the particular result I had pictured.
I could do my part wholeheartedly and acknowledge the limits of my control. I could trust God while making practical decisions about the next step.
I did not have to turn another person’s success story into a requirement for my own life.
And so I found myself saying:
“I’m free. Praise God, I’m free.”
