Measures of Success

Main Idea

True success is not measured by what happens during a particular stage of a person’s life, but by what the final outcome becomes.
God’s children may go through trials, apparent failure, and great hardship, while the people of the world may seem more successful than they are, but these stages do not represent the final outcome.
Pope Shenouda III presents examples from the Bible and Church history, such as David the Prophet and Joseph the Righteous, explaining that their lives went through stages in which failure seemed obvious, but their endings were successful.
He also points out that the Lord Christ Himself appeared, in the eyes of people, as though His mission had ended in failure, but the Resurrection revealed the true victory.
The same applies to the Church and Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, who both passed through persecution, hardship, and suffering, yet the final outcome was victory and success.

Spiritual Message

A person should not follow God for the sake of His gifts or the success He gives, but for God Himself.
Trials may be a test of a person’s love for God, revealing whether he remains faithful to Him even when he does not see success, comfort, or blessings.
True love for God means that a person continues on the path of truth, righteousness, and holiness regardless of the apparent results.
A spiritually strong person does not allow himself to become a plaything of success or failure, but remains steadfast on the righteous path without being changed by circumstances.

Educational Lesson

The message teaches us not to judge our lives or the lives of others based on a temporary situation or a single stage.
What appears to be failure in the eyes of people may turn into success, while what appears to be temporary success may have no value in the end.
Therefore, our vision should be far-reaching, and we should not allow despair or fear to convince us that the journey has ended.
Pope Shenouda emphasizes that God can work even at the last moment, and that we should never despair of our spiritual struggle or of the possibility of change.

Practical Application

We should remain steadfast on the path of goodness and truth even when we face hardship, failure, or suffering.
We should also avoid allowing our emotions to be quickly affected by temporary results; instead, we should look at our lives as a whole and trust in God’s work.
When we feel that evil has prevailed or that our efforts are useless, we should remember that the end has not yet come and that God is still working.
Therefore, we should always live with the hope of success through God’s help and walk in the path of righteousness and holiness whatever the circumstances may be.

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