In Tolkien’s book, The Hobbit, Thorin Oakenshield, the king under the mountain, finally reclaims his throne. He gets so enchanted by his success in the form of gold and priceless Jewels that he forgets everything. He denies promises made to other people. He begins to distrust and doubt his faithful companions. In short, success reaches his head, and he loses sight of his identity and his purpose.
Many times in life, we achieve fame and success. We get promotion after promotion at the workplace. We receive a series of unexpectedly good grades in school or university. We marry the prince charming or princess of our dreams.

We get so preoccupied, consumed, or distracted by success that we lose sight of our mission. We have been set on a mission by Lord Jesus to be his ambassadors where ever he has placed us—be it at our workplace, schools, colleges, neighborhoods, or families. He calls us to keep the focus. I want to share how we can maintain the focus when life throws success at us. 

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gets a lot of success early on in his ministry. In chapter one, he has healed many people of several sicknesses, including leprosy. He has delivered many people of unclean spirits. And the result is people are amazed at his authority. The fan following has become so large that there is no room to accommodate them. There is a queue every day just to see him. That’s an impressive success. That is mind-boggling business growth. Quickly, Jesus has become a superstar. 

If you and I get this kind of success, we will continue to work hard. The motto is, go big or go home, right? We will hire event managers, PR managers, communications team to manage the publicity and ride the wave as long as the favor is upon us. The business thumb rule is when the demand increases, supply must increase. The disciples want that. The people are rooting for Jesus. But Jesus does something counter-cultural, something that makes no entrepreneurial sense. Mark 1:45 says that Jesus stayed in the deserted place because of so much fame. He refused to go to the towns.

One would ask, Jesus isn’t your goal popularity? Isn’t it good that more and more people are following you? Don’t you want to be a social media influencer? And Jesus says no! If you go back to 1:38, he says let us go as I want to preach the gospel, which is why I came. His primary purpose was to preach the good news of redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. Healing and deliverance were peripheral. Jesus knows his life focus.

He knows he is not just a miracle worker—solving people’s temporary problems is not his focus. His focus is eternal. And for him to stay focused, he chooses a deserted place. A desert is a place of quiet and solitude. It is where you find perspective. It is where you can hear thoughts the best and remind yourself of your identity and mission. Jesus chose desert over demand. He chose isolation over indulgence so that he may keep his focus. I encourage you to take time off if you have lost focus or gotten occupied elsewhere.

You need to be successful at work, at school or university, in your neighborhood, or your home. But that success is not the end. Success is a means, a tool, an opportunity for you to deflect your glory to Jesus as the author, perfector, and redeemer of your life. We need to refocus to point toward Jesus continually. I encourage you to step back and find that desert where you can return on the mission. Jesus did it, and he called us to do it.