Survival, Success, & Rest for Christian Writers

The only way to keep constant success as a goal is to believe you can work hard enough to be perfect, even if nobody else can.

Only Winners Matter: False Identity in Success 

Straight A report cards were accompanied with tears over a B on a few assignments. Great joy over qualifying for the National Bible Bee was followed by immense defeat (and okay, more tears as well) over not making it past the first round. Before I started writing, I was known as the smart kid who knew a ton about the Bible. That was my identity. Those less-than-perfect assignments and my failure at the National Bible Bee rocked how I characterized myself; they shook the core of my identity. I used to place my identity in my successes: past, present, and future. When I did well at school, it wasn’t exciting, only expected. When I did poorly (or even just averagely), it was a complete and total failure on my part. That mindset led to a lot of tears shed and a lot of talks with my mom about idolizing academics accompanied by—you guessed it—more tears (I’m a very weepy person.) While my idolization of academic success only reaped the fruit of enough tears to refill an ocean, placing my identity in success led to far darker and more dangerous places, as it will for all writers who seek after their own perfection. 

Spotting Identity in Success 

No one can deny that it’s validating or even fulfilling to be recognized for the skill (or skills) you excel at. The Bible calls upon Christians to give honor where honor is due, after all (Romans 13:7, ESV). After hearing, “Your stories are incredible,” a million times, it’s easy to think of yourself as a great storyteller and hide your worth in it. Now your worth is in writing great stories instead of in Christ. A new, intense pressure falls on your shoulders the second you become defined by your area of excellence. You feel that you must produce more masterpieces to achieve success and be fulfilled by the praise and recognition that comes from continuing to live up to your identity. No matter how fulfilling success appears in the moment, it can never truly satisfy. Why? Because to continue to be a winner, you have to keep winning.  

This fact easily leads to a cycle of purposelessness. Constant success seems like it should never feel like purposelessness any day. This presumption would be true if success could be constant. Humans are not perfect. Life will ambush our success with a crushing defeat every now and then or maybe continuously. When idolizing success, imperfection keeps a person constantly feeling purposeless. If humans could be perfect, then autonomy wouldn’t seem like such a stretch, though if they were perfect, they would live like they were created by God to bring glory to Him not live for themselves. Since humans are not perfect, a great deal of pride flares up in those who place their identity in success. The only way to keep constant success as a goal is to believe you can work hard enough to be perfect, even if nobody else can.  

This pride can be seen most easily in those who constantly brag about their accomplishments, never want to talk about anything other than themselves, and are entirely unteachable since they believe they’re already perfect. However, this pride doesn’t usually express itself so blatantly. Pride is found in the cockiest athletes and the shyest creatives. The proud ignore feedback on their work because obviously the experts don’t know what they’re talking about. They’d never say anything like that aloud, but you’ve unconsciously dismissed their perspective. They may think that the way they’ve created their work is perfect because they’re the successful artist, not their critics or advisors. They often find it hard to be truly happy for others when others accomplish their goals. It makes them jealous inside that they haven’t accomplished what others have or that they are now competition for popularity. This mindset can lead to manipulating the conversation to make your own achievements shine. Then, you can gush about all the things that you’ve just accomplished without seeming narcissistic.  

I am guilty of pulling this tactic, especially in the form of questions. I’ll ask someone what big things are happening in their life. Then, I eagerly listen, waiting for them to stop and ask me the same thing in return. In an extra attempt at covering my ego, I pretend I don’t want to talk about myself. The truth is I love talking about myself. Most people do. But it’s not the talking I truly like; it’s the reaction when I tell people the incredible things happening in my life. And truly, there’s nothing wrong with telling people what you’ve achieved lately, especially if they asked. The problem with this is the pridefulness of believing that you succeeded because you’re just built different or that you’re better than everyone else and not because God graciously allowed you to be who you are today (1 Corinthians 15:10, ESV).

Those who place their identity in success think much more highly of themselves than they ought to (Romans 12:3, ESV). God doesn’t get the glory for their achievements since, in their minds, He had nothing to do with it. They achieved greatness because they are great, not because God allowed them to be great. They will tell you that all you need to do is work hard and believe in yourself to achieve constant success. This mindset only leads to discouragement, not only for those who try to mimic those who are successful, but also for the successful people encouraging this worldview. This discouragement can lead to depression after every small failure since there’s no true hope in hopping back on the success train again like you never failed. Not even the highest amounts of fame can truly satisfy, but western society has no other alternative to constant success, leaving many trapped in the purposelessness of life apart from God. 

Overcoming an Identity in Success with Christ’s Victory 

Thankfully for those of us who wrongly place their identity in success, there is hope in Christ, who alone can change our perception of failure. Christ condescends to save us from our sins, in spite of all our failures. It is His love, not our promising success or worthiness, that prompted God to send His Son to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8, ESV). God didn’t choose us because of any works we have done or could do (Ephesians 2:9, ESV). There’s nothing we can do to earn our salvation because all fall short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:23, ESV). Failure to acknowledge that neither success nor failure defines us leads to unnecessary spiritual anxiety. If you battle to remove your identity from success and place it in Christ, the fact that you can’t work hard enough to be forgiven by God will upset you when it should free you—unless you change the way you see failure. 

Our powerlessness to change our eternal destiny is freeing because it now means we don’t have to reach perfection. God knew that humans are imperfect, so He sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to take our place. In God’s eyes, believers lived the perfect life Jesus did. Christ has won the final victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:56-57, ESV). We don’t have to keep winning to be considered winners; in Christ, we have already won. Our failures will never cause Christ to cast us out, just as our successes didn’t sway God’s saving hand (John 6:37, ESV). We are secure in Christ no matter if we win or lose, free of the bondage of success’s call to perfection. 

Sum Up 

For the writer struggling with wrongly placing identity in success, remember that you were created to bring glory to God, not to yourself. To bring glory to God, you must seek His kingdom first, obeying his commands, and then God will direct your writing path in the ways He sees fit (Matthew 6:33, ESV). If you place your value in writing success, like winning short story competitions or writing thousands of words a day, it has become an idol. Writing is a good gift that God has given you, but it cannot come before your identity as a child of God. Children of God focus on following His word, not on pleasing themselves. If this means that you can’t reach your daily word count goal because you’ve been serving your family all day, then that’s okay. You’ve succeeded in obeying God’s command to serve others and that’s the success that truly matters. When you keep your mind on the Lord, He gives you perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3, ESV). This peace will keep you from fixating on your successes and failures and focused on glorifying God in your writing and everything else he calls you to do.