I was at a local high school earlier this week watching some students playing a pick up basketball game.  It didn't take long before I noticed an interesting phenomenon taking place with nearly every player on both teams.  The game was largely a "shooting" game where nearly every shot was taken from behind the three point arc.  These guys were pretty good athletes, but their shooting percentage from the three point line was abysmal, maybe making one out of six shots (and that's being generous).  However, whenever they finally made a shot, they had the confidence of Kobe Bryant scoring 70 points.  It was interesting to see their level of confidence/arrogance sky rocket when a shot was made while their percentage of success was pathetic.  Watching these players got me thinking about the illusion of success.

While we should strive for success in all that we do, there is always an inherent danger lurking whenever we achieve the goal that we have been striving for.  There is something about success that can insulate us, causing us to think that we are doing quite well on our own effort.  Have you ever noticed it is often harder to pray when everything is going well?  If we are not careful, we lose sight of the fact that we are always utterly dependent on God's grace and goodness in our lives.  This seems to be a malady common to humanity throughout all of history.   The description of Solomon's character and activities is quite impressive in the first ten chapters of 1 Kings.  He inherits the throne from his father David, asks the Lord for wisdom, is given both wisdom and wealth, rules all of the united kingdom of Israel with acumen and insight, builds a tremendous temple to the Lord and a kingly palace that was second to none.  Royalty from afar were overwhelmingly impressed with King Solomon.  Truly, Solomon had experienced success like no other.  But then we read chapter 11 and not more than three words into the chapter and we are alerted to the fact that Solomon has fell prey to the illusion of success.  "King Solomon, however..." that word however changes everything. 

"King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women..."  These foreign women brought along with them their foreign gods and Solomon's heart is turned from the Lord his God to these foreign gods.  It is tragic to see how quickly Solomon serves these other gods.  He goes from the one who is passionate about building a house for the Lord, to building high places for the gods of the Moabites and the Ammonites.  It is easy for us to stand back and shake our head in disgust, but then we would be missing the point that Solomon is really no different than me or you.  Certainly Solomon did not start his reign as King of Israel with the desire to take for himself 1,000 wives and concubines who would eventually turn his heart from being fully devoted to the Lord.  We need to see that our hearts are equally deceptive and far more prone to wander than we could ever imagine.  So how do we deal with success without committing the same tragic error? 

As God brings us blessings in this life surely we are meant to enjoy them.  Every basketball player knows the pure fun of having the "hot hand" and seemingly making every shot that he takes.  Perhaps you have enjoyed the success of studying hard for a class you once thought impossible to pass and actually excelling in that discipline.  Success is something that should be enjoyed, the ultimate problem was not that Solomon enjoyed his success, it was that he took his eyes, and therefore his heart, away from God.  So once again, how do we deal with success? 

Standing on this side of the cross, the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to look to Jesus, "let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfect of our faith (12:2)."  The danger of success is that it causes our eyes to turn inward and to shout to the world, "look at what I have accomplished."  Therein lays the illusion, that we are getting along quite nice in our lives without any need or help from Christ.  The beauty of this verse is that no matter where we are in life, the command is the same, set your eyes on Jesus.  Have you experienced failure?  Success is not the final answer to your problems, fix your eyes on Jesus – he is the one who has endured the cross and rose triumphant from the grave.  Do you find yourself in the midst of success?  Fix your eyes on Jesus, your success is a blessing from his hand that is meant for you to give him glory.  Your success pales in comparison to Jesus' success of rising triumphant from the grip of death that has held the world prisoner.  Ultimately, if you find yourself successful in what God has called you to do, bear in mind that it is finally God who has blessed the work of your hand and therefore, fix your eyes on Jesus.  Your success is not finally your own doing, but is a blessing from the hand of Christ.