When you think of a multi-million dollar empire, what comes to mind?
No doubt we all have individuals, partners, or organizations that beam with dollar signs when we think about monumentally successful businesses and investments. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg are some of the first names that come to mind.
When we see and hear, watch and read about, these famously wealthy founders, inventors, directors, and investors we dream about what a day must be like for people of their kind. As onlookers roused with curiosity we develop a perception of what we imagine life must be like. We wonder about their schedules, diet, wardrobe, acquaintances, and entertainment preferences.
Sometimes people like that are thought to be ‘untouchable.’ Their lifestyle of affluence and fame seems beyond our reach. But occasionally we consider someone ‘just like us’ that brings a certain affinity that lures us in to witness their wildly successful path to prominence. This is how I felt several years ago when a new family reality TV show was aired on the A&E channel by the title “Duck Dynasty.”
How could people just like me–some good ol’ country folk–have such a rise to fame? For many who would have encountered the men of the Robertson family from a distance would have imagined just some backyard hillbillies who loved to hunt and fish. In many instances, written off as no names with limitations on the basis of how they dressed and their choice for a career. But some have leaned in and listened to the incredible story of a patriarchal vision channeled into an enterprise of success by a family enthusiastically devoted to their father’s decades old vision for hunters near and far.
What I want to consider is this: Can we re-imagine the formula for success? We think success looks a certain way, acts a certain way, speaks a certain way, lives a certain way. And we’ve let so many nuances within our culture define the extremities and limitations for success. So, from a distance, we make claims on whether we believe a successful life is being lived. And it’s possible that the slick suits we claim have reached some apex of success might just be on the fringes of a dream that is unfortunately soon to be unraveled.
Jesus tells a parable in Luke’s Gospel about two men who came to the temple to pray. I could never re-tell it as well as Luke records so I’ll let you read it for yourself:
“Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ (Luke 18:10-13, Amplified Bible).
When you read the story, as the crowd would have listened intently to His words, you can immediately begin to draw conclusions about each of the two individuals. One a religious man; the other, conceivably, a wicked man. As a spectator of the story, we begin to assert our own opinion for who is really living a successful life. At first glance, while we may not fully embrace the attitude of the religious man, he seems to be nailing it by an upstanding moral ethic. He’s not a bad man. In fact, he’s actually displaying several admirable traits. Many would say he’s successful, especially among the religious elite.
The other, this tax collector, admittedly had some guilt regarding the lifestyle he’d demonstrated among his peers. Understanding the context of this story, the reader must know that this tax collector in all likelihood was a Jew who conspired to work for the Roman government to extort money from fellow citizens to pad his pockets with manipulative means. He was a fraud.
What’s really interesting about this parable is the audience to whom Jesus was speaking. Luke records, “He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with God], and who viewed others with contempt” (Luke 18:9, AMP).
Jesus often told these parables, these relatable stories, to convey spiritual truths that had inconceivable and unsuspecting ends. At the onset, Luke gives intricate details into the heart of the people who were listening to his story. As they listened to Jesus speak they no doubt would have formed their own opinions of how they assumed this story would end. The righteous Pharisee in the story was about to be praised. He was checking all the boxes of his position, prayers, and possessions. And the wicked tax collector would receive a harsh punishment for his misbehavior, maybe even have his prayers ignored or dismissed by the righteous judge of Israel.
But remember, the parables of Jesus often carried a plot twist that his hearers never suspected.
“I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted” (Luke 18:13-14, AMP).
Can you imagine the gasps taken by these religious juggernauts? There’s no way they imagined that this evil tax collector would walk away scot-free. Much less be granted a place of prominence and exaltation. The frustration. The disbelief. The unfairness of it all. These men in attendance, just like the man in the story that looked so much like them–combing through all the religious accolades–was left speechless. Perhaps humiliated. Humbled for sure.
There’s a danger in developing a self-righteous attitude; it makes us prone to condemn others’ character and platform our own performance. This Pharisee was critical of others that were not like him. Self-righteousness compares outward actions by who most closely follows their self-made rules. It becomes a standard that includes a sliding scale of good-ness. When compared with others, rather than the standard established by God, we always demean others deeds while prioritizing our own assembly of moral accomplishments.
There’s incredible value in developing a heart humility; it helps keep everything in perspective. It leads to sorrow over sin that seeks forgiveness for our faults. When we recognize the holiness of God and the righteousness He requires, we realize that we miss the mark. And rather than making futile attempts to appease His expectation, we realize we need His intervention. So, like the tax collector, we own our mistakes; our sin. And we repent. We turn toward Him. We seek His forgiveness. We remain humble and let God do the exalting rather than forming our own means of self-exaltation that leads to a disappointing end of being humbled by Him. We must allow Him to place the righteousness of Christ on us; an act of love we could never fathom or perform on our own.
Success, in the end, may not be anything like we imagined if we draw our conclusions from the world in which we live. But when we heed the words of Christ, a life well-lived will be one in which we receive the blessings of God by the rich mercies of a Father who truly loves a heart completely dependent upon and wholly devoted to Him.
Kortney Jones 
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