How do U spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s?

Last week I heard one of the leading businessmen in Greenville speak about habits that lead to success. At the end of his talk, during Q&A, a person asked him, "how do you view success?" He thought a minute and said, "my view of success has changed over the years, but now I would have to say it is significance."

My ears immediately perked up because this is a major theme in my book, "Stuck in Stinkin Thinkin." During his talk the prominent businessman had unapologetically discussed his Christian faith. As he was explaining success and formerly speaking from a Christian perspective, I could not help but be reminded about the subtle way our nature points us to how we impact the world around us as a key to our well being.

I do not mean to be critical of this outstanding man but simply to illustrate how, even in the best of folks, our human nature (the Bible calls the flesh) is quite stealth at influencing our thinking and the way we make sense of ourself and the world around us. Here is the exert from my book to explain this subtle point:

            "The appeal of self-actualization has been captured in many books like Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. Such books are written to encourage people to seek purpose in their lives as their ultimate source of well being. Some, like Buford’s Halftime, focuses on significance, not worldly success, as a higher order need in our human existence. While the authors’ assumptions at the root of their messages may be based on the Grace model, I can say that the appeal to many readers for significance and purpose to produce a happy and fulfilling life is often carnal minded, because significance is naturally perceived as the impact one has on the world around them.

This notion of significance as purpose is so fundamental in our human nature that many Kingdom dwellers are deceived to believe significance is based on their achievement, putting them in bondage to the results of their actions, not the faithfulness of them. The prophet Jeremiah knew this when he admonishes us to "let man boast in this, that He (God) understands and knows me."

Calling can be defined as the first derivative of intrinsic motivation. You are probably thinking, “Professor, say what?” I smile and say this means that your calling must flow out of the purpose, meaning, and enjoyment that have been placed in you. The contrast of carnal with the Divine alternative depends on the source of your intrinsic. When your purpose is based on the human need to be significant in the world you live, then you have a carnal minded calling. You become happy when your actions have positive results around you, and unhappy when you do not.

According to Aristotle, happiness is life’s end game, and Thomas Jefferson believed the pursuit of happiness is our inalienable right. Yet, happiness is from the root word denoting “happenstance” and depends on how our circumstances match up with our needs.

The Divine alternative to your human nature’s need for significance is an ambition to please God. In this case calling is seen as being faithful to play out what He has put in you,independent of being significant to the world. Calling is not situation dependent because the results or impact on your world is God’s business, not yours. This frees you to fulfill your calling in whatever context He puts you in, and takes pressure off of your need to “find God’s will” in your career and family life choices.

That is, your calling has more to do with your personal resources being faithfully deployed than the specific job, career, company, or marriage that is being targeted. When you are faithful to His calling, you are Holy and experience joy, which is a sense of peace (fullness) and well-being independent of your circumstances. Jesus said, “I came that your joy may be full.”

Using Equity Theory to explain this, we find the following