How Did Jesus Define Success?

He who loses his life for my sake will find it…[and] I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father of mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake…who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time…and in the age to come, eternal life. Matthew 10:39; Mark 10:29-30

How I long to hear Joel Osteen speak of the blessing of giving up all that you have in order to receive the abundance that Jesus offers. How I pray he will talk about how he loves Jesus so much he is dying to have more of Jesus’ life. His teaching on God’s temporal and material blessings is not wrong. But his emphasis is. Jesus was not opposed to Christians having material things. He was opposed to temporal and material things “having” (controlling) Christians! There is a built-in danger to gaining much in this life and thinking it is a measure of our spiritual success. If it is so, we would have to conclude that the millions of Chinese Christians who live under great persecution and have suffered great losses (home, family, possessions, even death) are people of little faith and thus, are unable to receive the blessings of God.

The emphasis of our teaching should never be to consider our gains, but on how much we are willing to give up of material and temporal things in order to eliminate all competition in our hearts for Jesus. Watchman Nee once said, “In spiritual matters, our success is not measured in terms of gains, but in losses.” How much have you lost for Jesus’ sake? Are you dying to gain abundant life?