As I was reading an article on parenting this morning, one section in particular made me pause.

The question we ask of ourselves must be reframed. We need to quit asking, “Am I parenting successfully?” And we most certainly need to quit asking, “Are others parenting successfully?” Instead, we need to ask, “Am I parenting faithfully?” Faithfulness, after all, is God’s highest requirement for us.

I began to expand this to many other areas of life. Consider areas of your life you try to measure or determine as successful (or not): marital status, education, musical performance, professional accomplishments, economic status, residence, material possessions. We feel we’re successful when things go well – or how our society defines “well.” We feel we’re failures when things don’t go so well. Our feelings of success/failure spill into our attitudes and beliefs and before long we’re defining our worth on those feelings. Instead of feeling of success or failure, we define ourselves as being a success or failure.

(Even as I’m writing this, my inbox chimed with a new email from a prominent Christian publication with the lead article titled When Christians Fail.)

What if success isn’t our goal at all? What if we toss self- or other-imposed definitions of success aside for the biblical responsibility of faithfulness? Are you being faithful in your parenting? Faithful in your marriage? Faithful at work? Faithful in ministry? Faithful as you blog, Facebook, Twitter, and text? Faithful when you shop?

My answer is going to be no sometimes! But that doesn’t make me a failure. It has nothing to do with failing. It has everything to do with faithfulness. When I’m not faithful, I can’t rewind and make a decision that better reflects my faith. But I can step forward in faith, deal with consequences and do what needs to be done to repair relationships – most important, my relationship with God.

If we’re not careful, we can even twist our faithfulness to be defined as success or failure. If we’re faithful, we’re successful. If we’re not, we fail. But that approach doesn’t accept who God truly is. He absolutely wants us to be faithful, but he doesn’t see us as failures when we’re not. In that moment, we have another choice to be faithful – or not. We can turn to him immediately – or not. And if we define ourselves as successful when we’re faithful…well, it doesn’t take long to realize how self-centered that perspective can become!

I pray this post encourages AND challenges you in your faithfulness. We need both…and God is faithful to consistently provide both.

But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22 (NCV)