Success

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this.” (Psalm 37:5)

May I make a confession to you.  I’m not looking for your accolades or anything.  I just want to share this with you.  So many times, I question what I do or what I have said.  Well, mostly I question my motives.  And if I don’t see the immediate results I desire, then I wonder if I really pleased the Lord or not.  Do I make life more about me than I do the Lord?  I need to keep reminding myself that it really is God’s job, not mine, to evaluate my life.  My job is to do what I believe he wants me to do – regardless of the results.  After all, the Lord is the one who will judge all.  Yet – at times, I confess that I still wonder what sort of results I produce for his kingdom.  Do you ever feel that way about what you do or say? 

Robert Moffett, a Scottish missionary to South Africa, returned to Scotland to recruit missionaries.  He preached a message titled, “Unto You Oh Men, I Call.”  It sounded good, and he had spent much time praying and preparing the message.  It was the heart of winter when he stepped into the pulpit to preach his message.  As he looked out over the congregation that had gathered, he saw only a few women, along with a small boy who had come with his mother to work the bellows of the church organ.  This was the sum of his listeners.  He felt discouraged, knowing that few women could be expected to undergo all the harsh conditions of Africa, but he felt impressed to go ahead and give a call to the mission field anyway.  Little did he know that the little boy was stirred by the message and decided that one day, he would follow in Moffett’s footsteps.  He grew up, earned a degree in medicine, and then spent the rest of his life ministering in Africa.  His name was David Livingston.

I think we all tend to evaluate what we do as being either a success or failure.  I remember having a woman ask me one time if I was a very good bible teacher.  Threw me for a loop.  I had never been asked that.  So, I answered by saying that I wasn’t the worse and I wasn’t the best.  And when we stop and think about it, there is nowhere in scripture where we are called to be a success in the eyes of others or in our own eyes.  I believe that is because God is the only one who can determine what true success is in his kingdom work.   

God simply calls us to be obedient to what he wants us to do.  And if we are, well, isn’t that truly what success is?  As someone wisely told me once, “Remember you’re playing to an audience of One.”  So, keep on keeping obedient to everything God asks you to do or say, no matter how well you think you do it or not.  No matter whether you see the results you want or not.  Only in heaven will we truly know what we have accomplished because we were faithful.

                                                                Darlene