A successful Christian is often regarded as someone who overcomes difficulties and obstacles in order to do great things for God, becoming a role model and a shining light whose example other believers should aspire to. But is that how God defines success? In the thirteenth chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says : “We pray to God that you will stay away from evil, not for the sake of making us seem successful, but so that you will do the right things, even if we seem to be failures.”
It seems that Paul defined his own success not by reference to whether or not he appeared to be successful, but by whether he pointed others to God, regardless of how that made him appear. In other words, Paul’s success was not to be found in doing great things or being a well respected leader and authority or being a role model to others; his success was in pointing others to Jesus as their role model.
In an increasingly secular world, it is easy for followers of Jesus to fall into the trap of thinking that their task is to represent Christ by building their personal reputation. However, humans are incapable of achieving perfection, and all people have dents in their reputation. The true role of believers is to point others to Jesus, not to themselves.