Society demands the best of the best, the successful, to earn extravagant salaries, to be well-known, to possess multiple collegiate degrees, to raise respectful and law-abiding children and to have the means by which to comfortably retire upon the coming of age.
The Church does no less to demand success. This takes the form of attendance quotas, attracting financial and political community contributors, and competing for missional clout.
A certain bomb utilized in Vietnam and Afghanistan was nicknamed the 'daisy cutter.' It was an extremely powerful bomb with widespread impact. Like a powerful bomb, society, and unintentionally the Church, have taught that an individual's worth is based on what one accomplishes.
Skye Jethani calls this fallacy the Daisy Cutter Doctrine, which is the illusion that our impact in the world defines our value.
Success, to no surprise, is not of any eternal value. The accomplishments of this world are merely transitory but not necessarily inconsequential. Personal value must first be defined.
As 1 John 3:1 states, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are." We are created in the image of God for the purpose of worship through faith, hope and love. Our value is in this identity in Christ.
Therefore, personal successes and far-reaching impacts do not define one's value but are a result of one's value as an act of worship to the Creator. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ," Paul wrote to the church at Colossae.
Praise to the Lord who has redeemed us and now calls us His own that we need not rely on the Daisy Cutter Doctrine in order to have eternal worth!
I think I would disagree with you on that "unintentionally the Church, [has] taught that an individual's worth is based on what one accomplishes." I guess growing up in a Latin-american church and attending an 'American' college made me more cynical. But, I have seen how people in Church look down upon Pastor's kids who don't follow up on the steps of his/her parents' steps inside the Church. So, at least they are completely intentional in that area.
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