Verified: Prioritizing Internal Growth in an Image-Driven WorldIhe Atụ

Short-lived Glory

I’m convinced that some of the greatest movements in the history of our world were shaped by the daily impacts of people whose names we’ve long forgotten or who we’ll never know. 

Some of the people whose work I admire most don’t have social media handles because they’re busy doing the deep, impactful work- some contributing through literature and research, others in service of their community, many in their household diligently raising the next generation of men and women. There are many different ways to make an impact, so I say, to each it’s own, yet these silent, focused efforts speak volumes to me.

While it’s not my intention to depress you with the shortness of life today, I think there’s something necessary and sobering about the reality of our life span. We remember everything here is temporary and our entire existence is set into focus. In short, our own glory is too small to live for.

Across cultures, there are different ways man has created systems around how we may leave a legacy through the generations and ways to give our individual lives meaning. Yet one generation passes and the next and the next and in light of eternity, we are but a vapor. Still, I don’t think this makes life meaningless at all. As believers, we have the opportunity to be a part of something everlasting. We get to humble ourselves under a greater glory and partner with an eternal picture for the world- and that is the work of God through Jesus Christ. 

As Isaiah 40:6-8 states, people will fade away but the Word of God will stand forever. 

This means that wherever we have been placed in this world, on the job, at home, in the lab, at our desks, we work in the vein of a greater glory and service than ourselves because apart from this we truly are nothing.

Psychiatrist, author, and concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl put it this way:

Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you’re going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued, it must ensue; and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or is the byproduct of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success, you have to let it happen by not caring about it.

I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge then you will live to see that in the long run, in the long run I say, success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it.

I confess that I work better this way. When I can get myself out of the way long enough, I can actually commit to the whole-hearted and present, deep work of serving the people who follow my work or who have been placed around me. The more I focus on myself, the more I see my deficits and hear the voice of my doubts. The more I focus on God’s greater work and love for His creation the more I see where His grace meets my weakness and realize that all of this isn’t relying on my perfection. I’m not God. I’m not the Savior. I’m simply a servant walking in the vein where I feel called and hoping to make some sort of impact along the way that goes beyond myself. 

Sometimes we live each day in and out as if we’ll keep going forever this way. The sobering reality is that we won’t. Yet, the fragility of life is part of what gives meaning to our days. What if we let this lead us into a humble life of greater service beyond ourselves instead?

Pause & reflect:

• Who are some people you know of who are doing something you admire, even though they may not be widely known?
• What do you admire about what they’re doing?
• What is something you’d feel passionate about doing and would feel fulfilled even if it never got any personal recognition?