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In Christianity, we find that many of the standard values of society are turned on their head. Things that are taken for granted by most people are often completely rejected in the Christian faith, and things that are rejected wholesale are frequently accepted with open arms. What it means to have a successful life is one example of this. Christianity and mainstream society could hardly be more different in their understandings of success in life.

Take the lives of two fictitious people we will call Alan and Richard.

First, here is something about Alan. He was born into a loving family and had a very happy childhood. His memories of being a boy are nearly all good ones. At school, he was one of the brightest in his year, and he came away with exceptional grades. He was also very athletic and played on various sports teams, where his abilities stood out.

After school, he went to university to study law and graduated near the top of his class. He then started working for a prestigious law firm, where his career has been advancing. Even when he began this job he made a lot of money, but now in his mid-thirties, he is really very wealthy. What is more, he enjoys his job and he rarely misses a day at work as he has always experienced excellent health.

Alan is a good-looking man and women find him very attractive. But for him, there is only one woman that he is interested in. In his early twenties, he married his childhood sweetheart, a stunningly beautiful woman. Their marriage is a real delight to him. And he now has two healthy and happy young children. Alan and his wife have bought a very expensive house in a posh neighborhood, and they both drive really nice cars.

Between school and university, Alan spent a year traveling around the world, an experience he loved. He has many good friends, and he has often entertained them with accounts of his exploits during that time. He and his wife have traveled a lot together too, staying in five-star hotels in various exotic places. Holidays recently have been nearer to home, since there are the children to think about, but seeing his kids enjoy themselves have made these the best holidays ever.

Alan has always loved outdoor sports, and he is a leader in his local mountain rescue team. On several occasions, he has helped to rescue stranded people, and more than one person owes their life to what he has done in this role. The local media have covered some of these rescues, meaning that Alan has appeared on TV a few times. He is very well known in the community as a result and is very highly regarded.

Despite his busy life, Alan also finds the time to do some voluntary tutoring in numeracy for a charity, where he has been able to help people with learning difficulties get to grips with the basics of arithmetic. He finds this very rewarding. It has also meant that his reputation is even greater than it would otherwise have been.

When it comes to religion, Alan believes firmly that God exists, but other than that, he doesn't have any particularly strong beliefs. He does make a bit of an effort to live in a way that he thinks is right. But that's about it.

Now, here is something about Richard. Richard's childhood was in many ways a difficult one. His parents divorced when he was six, and it took him a long time to get over it. He also experienced health problems, suffering from several different ailments. Because of his poor health, Richard missed time at school, and in tests, he consistently came near the bottom of his class. Even when he was able to attend school without interruption for a time, however, he struggled to understand. He was a slow learner, and he kept finding that just as he was beginning to grasp something, the class moved on to the next lesson before he was ready. He finished school with very few qualifications.

Richard would love to have gone on to study at college, but he just didn't get the grades. He has had several jobs over the years, but he was never particularly keen on any of them. Now in his mid-thirties, he has a job collecting refuse from houses. This is perhaps the worst job he has had. He has to start work very early in the morning, the pay is poor, and he finds the work humiliating. He can often tell that people are looking down on him because of the job he is doing.

Because of his low pay, Richard lives in a small flat in an unpleasant neighborhood. In winter he can only afford to heat one room. He doesn't feel cut out for the single life and would love to be married, but women have never really shown much interest in him, and every attempt he has made to date has ended in failure. There was one woman he dated for a while, and he had high hopes that he would marry her, but it didn't work out. He really doesn't like to think about that. 

So, Richard lives alone, and he suffers from loneliness. This isn't helped by the fact that he has never found it easy to make friends. 

Richard has continued to experience various health problems over the years. It is true that he has seen God help him in this area, sometimes strikingly. Nevertheless, his health is still problematic. He has seen God help him in many other ways too, but nevertheless, if he is honest, much of his life has been a very hard fight.

Although he was not raised to be religious, when he was still a young boy Richard became a Christian. Today, he is a devout believer and is serious about living his life for Christ. He is well aware that he is far from perfect, and he feels that his relationship with God is not all that it should be. Nevertheless, he rejoices in God and his love, and his relationship with God provides him with comfort in his sufferings.

So, here we have two people with very different experiences in life. Let's think about Alan first of all. Surely in every society and culture around the world, a large majority of people would say that Alan is living an extremely successful life. He has got it all, hasn't he? He has excellent health, a great family, good friends, lots of money, intelligence, a job he likes, good looks, athletic ability, exciting experiences, esteem, and respect. Most people would give their eye teeth to have what he has. They would be in awe of Alan. His life is almost a definition of a successful life, isn't it?

In a Christian perspective, however, it is no exaggeration to say that Alan is living an extremely unsuccessful life. The whole reason he is alive at all is that God created him. And God created him so that the two of them could have a relationship. Because Alan has no relationship with God, he is missing the core of what any successful life must have.

Furthermore, Alan has not taken hold of the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ. This means that he is still in his sins, and he is therefore on track for eternal punishment from God. Alan is failing utterly, therefore, to plan for his future. In the big picture of human existence that stretches for millions upon millions of years into eternity, Alan is going down a path that will involve being miserable for almost all of the time that is ahead of him.

Importantly, the fact that Alan has saved people's lives and does some charity work doesn't stop his life from being so unsuccessful. God is the all in all, and without knowing him and the salvation he gives, someone's life can only be described as a disaster, as a catastrophe, as extremely unsuccessful.

That is not to say that charitable work and helping people in need is unimportant. Helping people is good (even though God wants us to submit all we do to him, including how we help people). But even if someone spends every waking moment helping people and does not have Christ, they have still totally failed to have success in life. Christ is that important.

Now let's think about Richard. Anywhere in the world, most people would surely think that he is living an unsuccessful life. That is not to say that they would blame him for this. They would understand that he has been dealt a difficult hand. But the circumstances of his life are what most people would give their eye teeth to avoid. 

Again, however, in a Christian perspective, Richard's life is actually far, far more successful than the lives of a large majority of people. He is in a relationship with his maker. And he has been saved from his sins, meaning that, as far as the long-term is concerned, he is on course for millions of years of feeling fantastic after death. Almost all of the time ahead of him looks wonderful. 

Richard's state of affairs is similar to that of the apostle Paul when he spoke about his sufferings producing for him 'an eternal weight of glory' (2 Cor 4:17). For Richard, the words of Revelation also apply, where we are told that God will 'wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death or sadness or crying or pain' (Rev 21:4). 

Richard may be held in contempt by many, just as Paul was regarded as 'the refuse of the world, the filth of everything' (1 Cor 4:13). But Richard is putting all his eggs in one basket. He is like a man who finds treasure in a field and sells all that he has to buy that field (Matt 13:44). He is like a pearl merchant who finds an extremely valuable pearl and sells everything he has to buy that pearl (Matt 13:45-46). 

Richard is in many ways similar to Lazarus in Jesus' story (Luke 16:19-31), who suffers badly here on earth but finds blessedness and an end to his troubles after death. Alan, by contrast, is similar to the rich man in the same story, who has an easy time on earth but finds himself in torment after death.

Are you living a successful or unsuccessful life today? If you are trusting Jesus for salvation and you are in a relationship with God, you are living a comparatively very successful life regardless of how much you suffer. If you are not trusting Christ and you don't know God, then your life could hardly be less successful regardless of what else you experience. If you are in this second group of people, a simple decision to accept Christ will radically transform things.