success isn’t the point

I was reading Chambers again today, and I was struck once again by his bluntness:

“When the disciples came back from their first mission they were filled with joy because the devils were subject to them, and Jesus said—Don’t rejoice in successful service; the great secret of joy is that you are rightly related to me.”

So it immediately got me thinking about just how persistently we disobey even just this one assertion of Jesus. Don’t rejoice in success! But that seems to be all we do, isn’t it? The church has obviously forgotten this commandment, if we can call it that. We are quick to quote other commandments against sins that are repulsive to us, but what about the sins of ambition, greed and egomania that manifest themselves in empire-building, money-grubbing, Babel-erecting success stories?

Even if we twist the success stories around to sound like they are for the benefit of those we minister to, it is still apparently misguided because that is what the disciples did: we cast out demons, healed people and got people saved in your name! Not impressed. That’s not the point. I never knew you!