Are You Fruitful or Successful?
What does success mean as a Christian filmmaker? What makes a Christian movie a success? Is it having a substantial box office (like Fireproof’s $36 million) and DVD sales record (millions of units sold)? Is it the response of the audience? Do the two go hand in hand?
I read a thought-provoking message from Shun Lee, director of Hollywood Connect, who asserts that God did not call us to be successful, only fruitful. He states that success, as it is currently defined, has become the “gold standard by which we are measured and are either celebrated or found wanting.” Instead, he says that God calls us to be fruitful, and he says it’s the easier measurement.
I believe you have to dig into the meaning of “fruitful,” though, in order for it really to be a good measurement. After all, you can produce a lot of bad product really quickly – is that really the fruitfulness God desires? Is His fruitfulness measured in souls? Does He want quantity over quality? There’s a passage in John 15 where Jesus says His Father will cut away those branches that produce no fruit. For those that are fruitful, He prunes them so they will bear even more fruit.
Are you fruitful or are you successful? If you’re fruitful, what kind of fruit are you producing? And if you’re in pruning season, remember that God is doing it so you will bear more fruit.
