What if You're Climbing the Wrong Mountain?
In May of 1804, Lewis and Clark and the Corp of Discovery set out west to discover what they got with their recent purchase of the western half of the continent. They were full of hopes and dreams for the what the journey would reveal and the glory that would be theirs if they accomplished their mission. As they hit the Rocky Mountains they were not only amazed at the beauty, they were stunned at the vastness of what they had to overcome. Time and again, they reached a mountain peak with hopes that on the other side they’d finally see the ocean, only to find another range of mountains to climb.
Like Lewis and Clark, you and I can find ourselves climbing a different kind of mountain, chasing another seemingly elusive goal: success. Have you ever noticed how success continues to always be just out of reach? Just when we think we’ve made it, it disappears like cotton candy on the tongue. Then we’re back to the grind of chasing it again.
Success is a cruel, deceptive taskmaster that left unchecked can become an idol in our lives. It’s glorious when you’re winning; when you feel the rush of achievement. But when you falter or fail (and we all will), the load is crushing.
For years I chased the phantom of success, thinking, ‘if I just could get _______, if I could just accomplish _______, I’ll know I’ve finally made it.’ Yet, in the end, I was always left disappointed and disallusioned.
Maybe, like me, you’ve felt that same emptiness. This striving within us comes from our desire to find and prove our value. But our value can’t be found in the temporary.
Your value isn’t found in your achievements; not in who you are, but in whose you are.
God longs to be in relationship with YOU, not your trophies. It is in Christ alone that your identity is found; not in a degree, that promotion, your number of followers. Rather than climbing the wrong mountain of success, what if we endeavored to discover a deeper relationship with the very one who gives our lives meaning, the one who made us?