Chasing Significance
“In our culture, significance is measured less by the contributions we make to society than by our power, performance, position and prosperity…our society cares little about the integrity or character of significant people or how they become significant. The point is to attain and maintain your significance. The process is irrelevant” notes Joseph Stowell in his excellent book Perilous Pursuits. Today we see many celebrities and influential people who are considered significant not because of their valuable contributions to the society, but because they are rich and famous. I think sometimes we confuse between success and significance, many of today’s young actors and business people are successful but that does not mean they have significance.
Cathie Black once said “The first half of your life is spent chasing success; the second half is spent chasing significance.” Bill Gates who is one of the richest man in the world today recently at age 50 announced that he will no longer be heading the day to day management of Microsoft after July 2008 so that he can focus or devote his time and energy looking after the work of the Gates Foundation that targets global health and deals with poverty. Bill Gates is a classic example of Cathie Black’s statement. However with many young people who are able to succeed (financially) very early in life, people are able to see the vanity in chasing success alone and are now turning to focus on significance rather than just success.
Our society cares little about the integrity or character of significant people or how they become significant. The point is to attain and maintain your significance.
I truly believe that striving for significance is much more meaningful in life rather than merely chasing success, however if we are not cautious our passion to achieve significance also could become a self-centered obsession. I think we pass through different stages in life as we grow older, initially we are very self-centered (you could blame it on the fallen nature), we slowly recognize that life is not all about me or us, so we start caring for and sharing with others. Then some of us become altruistic and focus more on others than on self. However, at none of these stages we are completely delivered from our focus on “self”. No matter what terminology we use our “Self” is still a big part of our motivation for our actions.
Whether we are seeking to survive, or succeed or to become significant our “Self” is still a big part of our life. Our focus on self may be lesser in each stage; however we are still stuck with our self.
J. Hampton Keathley III, says “Just as obsession with food leads to gluttony and an obsession with safety leads to anxiety and even neuroses, an obsession with our significance leads to a life of selfishness.” Whether we are seeking to survive, succeed or to become significant our “Self” is still a big part of our life. Our focus on self may be lesser in each stage; however we are still stuck with our self. I believe as a Christian we should move slowly to a stage where like the Apostle Paul we could say “For me to live is Christ…”. It’s not about me, it’s about God and his kingdom.
I guess it is ok to strive to be significant, however the moment we become obsessed with our own significance we are entering a different trap. The world constantly seduces us with appeals to advance, maintain and promote our own significance while Christ wants us to lay our “self” on the alter and move on in the direction of surrender to God. Saul was a great man of God, for many years his only passion was to please God, but once his passion shifted from God to personal significance everything changed. The strong urge to maintain his significance led to his compromise and eventually made him a slave to power and position.
Chasing significance could become a very dangerous pursuit. The greatest danger of this passion is that if we are not really careful we can easily slip and confuse it with personal significance. As Christians we are called not to seek personal significance, we are called to seek and serve the Kingdom of God. “Michelangelo is said to have often painted with brush in one hand and a shielded candle in the other to prevent his shadow from covering the masterpiece he was creating. As God works through us to craft His glory and gain, we must be careful that our shadows are not cast across the canvas of His work. Being obsessed with our own significance will inevitably shade and distort the project” says Joseph Stowell. I hope and pray that God will give us his grace and liberate us from this obsession of significance so that we can truly and freely glorify God.
As God works through us to craft His glory and gain, we must be careful that our shadows are not cast across the canvas of His work. Being obsessed with our own significance will inevitably shade and distort the project.
– – Author: Rev. Francis Burgula – –
