Defined By God

Sometimes I sit back and think about everything I’ve done with my life and wonder, What was the point? I’ve always aimed for this idea of success, but I’ve never really paid much attention to what the success that I was reaching for really was. What was the idea? And more importantly, if I couldn’t pinpoint what I was reaching for, did it even exist at all? And if I didn’t reach this unidentified success, did that make me less of a person? Did I fail? And if I failed, did it affect anyone negatively? Did it affect me at all?

These might seem like a silly string of questions. However, tonight I found myself feeling assessed, inadequate, and more importantly, like I was not accomplishing enough. I felt like I needed to do more. I needed to be more. Not for me, but for all the people around me. Considering I don’t really have any clue as to what people expect of me, or the amount of success they want me to achieve, this way of thinking is extremely hurtful. More importantly, it’s damaging.

My success is not defined by my grade point average. My success is not defined by the college I go to, or how I’ve ended up paying for it. My success is not defined by how many people I am friends with or how many individuals like me. My success is not defined by the amount of awards I win or recognition I receive. My success is not defined by words of affirmation. Nor is it defined by accomplishments.

Just the same, my success is not deflated due to my failures. It is not diminished due to the opinions of others. My success does not evaporate when something goes wrong.

Because I am not defined by success. My actions are not my successes. My words are not my successes. Who I am is not my success. Because in all the things I do, God should be the only one who gains any sort of glory. In all I do, I should give the praise to God always. 

Focusing on my successes has given me too many tears when I didn’t reach a goal, specifically goals I didn’t even know I was aiming for. Focusing on my successes and myself when everything I did to achieve them belongs to God is selfish, because I know without Him, I would have and be nothing.

I am not defined by my success. I am defined by God as a child who messes up on a regular basis, but who is still loved. Loved when I mess up. Loved when I do good. Loved when I fail more than I achieve. Loved when I have sinned. Loved when I have done right by God. I am loved. And that is what I am defined by. Because God, He does not care about what this world deems as successful. He cares about what we do to serve Him and His kingdom. He cares about how we love, because He loves.

I am not defined by my success. When I accept that, I become the most successful person I can be, because I allow myself to be defined through love.