But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8

 

What makes you who you are?

 

Marco was an ambitious young man with lofty dreams who fell into a deep depression after getting fired from his job. He had taken some big risks, and caused his company big losses. His father visited him and told him something that would change his life. He said, “Your whole life, you’ve defined success as making it big, only letting yourself be happy if you did. But that’s never how we’ve defined success. God loves you, and if you spend your life loving Him, that will be your success.”

 

The next morning, Marco looked in the mirror and said, “I’m loved by God, and I love you, God. Therefore, I’m successful.” He said that phrase every day for a month. Slowly, the words of failure he had spoken to himself began to lose their sting.

 

The Bible says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

 

“If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts,”[1] writes Tim Keller. Think about it: If your idea of success in life is based on your performance or circumstances, you’re one crisis away from questioning everything.

 

Your identity, your success, is sure when it’s based on God’s unchanging love.

 

[1] Keller, Timothy. Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. Dutton Adult, 2012, p. 41.