Theological Journal – February 24 Moltmann Monday - Success

“Christian hope does not promise successful days to the rich and the strong, but resurrection and life to those who must exist in the shadows of death. Success is no name of God. Righteousness is.”

— Jürgen Moltmann

Success

Here are some quotes from inspirational/success-oriented Americans:

“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” –Jim Rohn

“Mondays are the start of the work week which offer new beginnings 52 times a year!“ -David Dweck

“You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
– George Lorimer

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.” –Wayne Dyer

“Your Monday morning thoughts set the tone for your whole week. See yourself getting stronger, and living a fulfilling, happier & healthier life.” -Germany Kent

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” –Zig Ziglar

“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.“ –Groucho Marx

According to these authors success is self-generated, self-actuated, and achieved by those with time, resources, and experience to ground and justify it.

Christian success quotes:

High achievers spot rich opportunities swiftly, make big decisions quickly and move into action immediately. Follow these principles and you can make your dreams come true. -Robert H. Schuller

Your success and happiness lie in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulties. -Helen Keller

You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure. -Zig Ziglar

The difference between success and failure is work. -Jack Hyles

As you can see, there’s precious little difference in these two categories. These are admittedly not the best and brightest of either category. But they are typical of what many Western Christians hear in sermons and teaching and read in the popular literature they consume. And both sets reflect advice directed to “the rich and the strong” that Moltmann notes in his quote. They are healthy enough, stable enough, and safe enough to hear and apply such nostrums. Used to thinking they are to live by themselves, for themselves, and through their own wisdom and strength that they can easily internalize and adapt this teaching for their living. And in that kind of world this perspective on success often works. At least more or less. Few of us will succeed like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates and change our world. But many can live in comfort, raise and educate their families, and enjoy enough affirmation in what they do to feel successful.

At least till recent days.

Now even such modicums of success are rarer, though still an ideal. One we fear we have lost, perhaps forever. And maybe we have. But a deeper look at this whole matter of success from a theological view as provided by Professor Moltmann yields a very different take on it.

Resurrection and righteousness, he asserts, are the names of God, not success.

-Resurrection: only happens to the dead and in the realm of death. That is where we must look for God and the works of God. Among the “losers” (as our current President likes to style them). Among the “tax collectors and sinners” of our time. And with the poor, the addicts, sex workers, ostracized, all those who would not be counted among “the strong and the rich,” the successful. New life is what Christian hope seeks, the “success” it hopes for, and knows comes only from God. Our strength or lack thereof, our wealth or lack thereof, are irrelevant to this hope. Only God and God’s promises matter here.

-Righteousness: is about the world being reordered by God as he desires and intends. A world where justice for any means justice for all; where enough is enough for everyone and no one desires more; where each honors the other above themselves and thus a “hierarchialized” equality of this sort rather than mere hierarchy or mere egalitarianism prevails, where creation is cared for and its integrity respected. All this and much more is the world God wants and will have. Success from this perspective means being aligned with this God and these hopes whatever the cost in a world not-yet-fully-reconciled to God, a world that still crucifies Jesus followers, and resists or perverts every movement in that direction. Dying in alignment to such a God and the world that is coming won’t be counted a “success” b any but those similarly committed. But those who follow this path will hear a heart “Well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of our labors. And that will be enough, more of enough!