Success v Glory

I have been struck by the difference between seeking glory for God and seeking success. Most, including I, often put the two together. The more numbers in a ministry the more glory it brings to God. But watching the movie 300 I was challenged by this.

For those that missed it, 300 is about the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC. Where 3,300 Greeks held off the Persian army of 80,000 for three days. (The numbers on both sides were exaggerated for the movie - that's what makes it a cool movie!).

In the movie, there is a scene where a Greek scouting party sees the Persian army that it will take on later that day. There are 300 Spartans and a few other Greeks including Arcadians. There are 1 million Persians. In the scouting party an Arcadian and a Spartan react differently to the situation at hand. The Arcadian sees the army and says "There can be no victory here". There is no chance of success. And he was right, after 3 days the Greeks were slaughtered.

But, the Spartan smiles. He sees a chance not of success but glory for Sparta and himself. For him success is not the same as glory. Glory is about showing how great someone or something is. While the Greeks were slaughtered, they did so at the cost of around 20,000 Persians!

I think we often mistake the two in serving God. We do not have to be successful. What we have to do is show how great God is. Sometimes that will mean walking into a situation that we have no hope of success, because it is the right thing and that's what God's people do. We bring glory to God!