One of the best actors of all time is F. Murray Abraham and I am a fan of his film Amadeus from the early 80s. In this movie, a court composer who was named Salieri devotes his life to creating beautiful music. He gives everything to God including his chastity in pursuit of this, hoping that God will bless him with supernatural ability. But when he meets Mozart, he becomes jealous because Mozart, a whoremonger and a drunk and not a man who honors God, is a musical prodigy. One scene has Salieri composing a piece of music to welcome Mozart and when Mozart listens to it, he says it seems composed by a child. Mozart then modifies it into something exceptional on the spot. Salieri’s jealousy and anger consume him and Salieri to rejects God and seeks opportunity to murder Mozart through making Mozart write his own funeral mass. You may know a Mozart in your company or business. Sometimes you may feel like a Salieri, I know I have. I pray, “God, why can’t I be a Mozart? Why can’t I have the success and talent he has?”

The truth is that Salieri’s god was beautiful music, not the Master of the Universe. Having an idol as your god will always lead to disappointment and jealousy and bitterness. God does not promise that we will win every race, be “the best” always or even be successful by the world’s standards. As people of faith we can remind ourselves we live by a different standard (and that is true) yet we are only human beings. We do not stop wanting to be successful, to cross the finish line first, to make beautiful music.

Many verses in the Bible talk about winning the prize and success and the faith community loves successful people. I remember many times hearing pastors talk about famous businessmen, celebrities, or athletes (sometimes people who don’t even claim a faith background) and comparing their successes to dedication to the Christian life. Hearing those stories made me feel bad since my life was never like theirs. I have failed so many times in life even while trusting God. I have been fired from jobs despite doing my best and trusting God and I have gotten low scores on tests despite studying and trusting God. There are many other instances of failure in my life, while trusting God that I am sure you do not want to hear about. But I thought there must be something wrong with me since Christians were supposed to be successful! I remember once I knew this guy who ran out of gas on the road and he came into the store I was working in to wait for a tow truck. I knew this guy to be a leader in the university’s Christian group and I said to him “I did not think that kind of thing happened to Christians.” I said that with all honesty since I had never known any Christian leader to make any mistakes like that.

However, that is not the picture of success the Bible paints. The Bible is full of people (like all of us) who have failed at times in their lives, even while honoring God. The stories of successful people of faith that are so lauded in the Church are harder to find in the either the New or Old Testament. Instead, the Bible is full of stories of moral failure and forgiveness and redemption. This true from the beginning of Genesis with Adam and Eve to the hope of a new world we have in the book of Revelations. Everyone’s life from Joseph’s to David’s to Saul’s to Jacob’s to Jeremiah’s to Peter’s to Paul’s to Jesus’ could be seen from the perspective of failure. But they kept going in faith, redemption, forgiveness, and hope. One saying that really keeps me in the game when I know am doing what God would have me to yet not really being “successful” is by Mother Theresa. Mother Theresa’s life was not marked by great successes as most of us would count them. However, her saying regarding her efforts in alleviating an incredible amount of human misery was, “God has not called me to be successful, but to be faithful”. I hope that for us. I hope that we can see success from God’s perspective. A perspective that says that as long as we give all we have, as long as we put all our abilities and disabilities on the alter, then it is up to the Lord to multiply them, for His glory, in His way, whether the world counts it worthy or not.

 1 Kings 2:3 …and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.

—————–W.