Success Doesn’t Satisfy: Finding True Peace Through God

Steve Douglass:

 One of the key lessons I learned in undergraduate school was that success does not satisfy.

When I went away to college, I decided that my happiness in life would not be a result of a gift of God. It would be a result of my own effort. My dad drove me out from Rockford, Illinois, which is my hometown, and took us a thousand miles of driving to get to MIT. I remember thinking, dad, I'm gonna do well. I'm gonna be satisfied because I'm gonna achieve my objectives. And I set some very specific objectives. I wanted to get good grades – no small deal at MIT. I wanted to be involved in sports. Maybe leadership opportunities. And I thought it was a good idea to maybe have a few dates before I graduated from MIT.

Well, I did very well on that objective and actually did very well on the other objectives. Got better grades even than I thought I would. And was involved all four years on the MIT basketball team. Now you're probably thinking, “MIT basketball… I don't think I've ever seen them in the NCAA tournament.” No, and you never will, I'm sure. But I got to be on the team, and I did get involved in leadership opportunities. But you know what I discovered? None of them really seemed to satisfy.

I remember an award ceremony in my senior year. This award that I had longed to receive from the beginning time that I was at MIT, and sure enough, I was getting it that day. My name was called. I began walking up the cement steps there in that same great court where dad dropped me off, and I was gonna receive a big silver platter from an officer of the university. This is the pinnacle of success, right? But it was one of the most hollow experiences of my entire life. It's almost as if those cement steps turned to wood. Because I heard this distinct echo saying, “So what? Big deal? So what?” I thought, wow, if even in the moment of success, it's no big deal, it's gonna be a long life.

I remember Jeb Magruder of the Watergate scandal with Richard Nixon saying a few years later that he had climbed his ladder of success to the top – in his case, the White House – only to discover that his ladder was propped against the wrong wall. Well, those were my sentiments exactly. My ladder was propped against the wrong wall.

Well, that summer I went back to Rockford. Kind of curious what, what is really the secret to satisfaction in life? And I had to go to this religious meeting. It happened to be sponsored by an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ. And there I got a lot more than I bargained for as I attended the meeting because it was time with a lot of believers who were true followers of Jesus and from whom the joy of Jesus Christ just beamed. I was so impressed that they were experiencing peace and satisfaction in life far more than I was. Not because of success, but because of God.

I went on to Harvard Business School, took my very first case study exam – never taken one of those before – and came outta that exam totally confident that I had not done well. Well, I dragged back to my room that day and I thought, “Oh man, I've blown my first exam in graduate school.” And as I was sitting there in my room, I remember there's a verse in the Bible that says, “The fruit of the spirit is peace.” Well, I'm not experiencing peace. My heart is filled with turmoil. But I prayed a very simple prayer. I said, “God, I'm not asking for any favors in the exam. I'm just asking for peace.”

Well, you know what? My heart in a moment was just filled with peace, and it dawned on me probably for the first time ever, that the supernatural God of the universe had not only come to be a part of my life, but He had actually interacted with me. He had heard my prayer. He surely had many other prayers going to Him at that time about death and about sickness and other sources of grief and wars. And yet He heard the prayer of a plaintiff student who didn't study properly for his exam and gave him peace. I'll never forget it.

So one of the key lessons I learned was that success does not satisfy. I did experience a measure of success. I did not experience a great deal of satisfaction. I want a relationship with Jesus Christ, experiencing peace and satisfaction in life, not because of success, but because of God.