#143 – Success: Secular versus Christian
With Dr Pablo Martínez
We all dream about a successful life, but what are success and failure in God´s eyes? What is success for our society? The answer to these questions contains a very important key to living a life according to God´s heart, free from the tyranny of self-ambition.
The world measures success or failure using mainly three parameters: action, visible results, and image (outward appearance). For this reason its emphases are on activism, productivity (getting a lot done) and social status. The core of success lies in quantity and public image. Identity comes from activity.
The biblical view differs radically from the world´s. Its emphasis is not on doing a lot, but on being more holy; it is not on productivity, but on stewardship; it does not look on the outward appearance, but on the heart. Identity does not come from activity, but from belonging, being in Christ.
Further resources:
Dr Pablo Martínez Vila
Dr Pablo Martínez is a psychiatrist and currently works at a private practice in Barcelona. He has developed an extensive itinerant ministry as a counsellor, speaker and Bible teacher. He served as one of the vice-presidents of ICMDA and was President of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance (1999-2009) and Professor of Pastoral Theology at several theological institutions. His books have been published in 17 languages. His most recent works are Mad or God?: Jesus, the Healthiest Mind of All (Inter-Varsity Press, England, co-authored) and Take Care of Yourself: Survive and Thrive in Ministry (Hendrickson Publishers and DictumPress).
