Success! Everyone wants to be a success, approved by friends and foe alike. To have your Mother and Father speak with pride of you, to have your husband or wife tell you how much good you are doing, or to have others look with "envy" at your growing and successful church.
That last one really gets to those of us who work in or for a church or ministry.
Why have we allowed the worldly ideals of success or failure determine what we do or how we do it in the kingdom of God? Jesus was so successful He was crucified! Paul was so successful that more people wanted him dead than alive - and those were his own people!
As a young preacher/pastor in the early 1970's, I met and became friends with a pastor of a small Friends Church. His church was very small, as I suspect most Friends churches are. He was a wonderful and caring minister, not dynamic as the world counts charisma, but dedicated and very Biblically astute. In our conversations over the years - a group of Pastors from different church groups met regularly for breakfast and conversation - I came to appreciate Bill (not his real name) and the work he was doing. About that same time, Bob (not his real name either) began a church which soon numbered in the 1000's. By the mid 1980's it as one of the largest congregations in the country, a mega-church. And it was doing a terrific job of bringing people into the kingdom and ministering to their needs.
So was Bill and his church of 50 people a success? The other church sure was. Wasn't it? How do you think God the Father will greet each man in heaven? Will Bob be accorded a larger room/mansion/crown than Bill? Which man do you think has the greatest impact in the kingdom of God? Should Bill be sorry he didn't work harder or convert more or have a larger building? Bob gets invited to speak at all the large church conferences? Why? Because he is a success and Christians love success.
What if Bill were invited to speak, instead of Bob? Do you think he might have something just as good to say? He might even have a word of truth from God for those assembled. "But," you say, "no one would come, because no one knows Bill or his church." My answer is: "What does that say about the Church of Jesus Christ in the 20th/21st century?" It says to me that we have allowed the world to set our agenda, determine our directions, and define our successes.
What ever happened to faithfulness? What ever happened to service? What ever happened to selflessness?
How can I encourage a brother or sister to remain faithful and courageous in their life of faith when there life continues to suffer failure and trouble? They are obvously not successful and therefore, maybe not faithful enough either.
Friends, faith is a relationship with the Father, not a definition of success.
Be true to who you are! Be faithful to God! Ignore the applause others are getting. God looks at the heart, not the numbers. Whoever said, "Bloom where you are planted." had it right. Even one flower is a beautiful creation.
Charlie
That last one really gets to those of us who work in or for a church or ministry.
Why have we allowed the worldly ideals of success or failure determine what we do or how we do it in the kingdom of God? Jesus was so successful He was crucified! Paul was so successful that more people wanted him dead than alive - and those were his own people!
As a young preacher/pastor in the early 1970's, I met and became friends with a pastor of a small Friends Church. His church was very small, as I suspect most Friends churches are. He was a wonderful and caring minister, not dynamic as the world counts charisma, but dedicated and very Biblically astute. In our conversations over the years - a group of Pastors from different church groups met regularly for breakfast and conversation - I came to appreciate Bill (not his real name) and the work he was doing. About that same time, Bob (not his real name either) began a church which soon numbered in the 1000's. By the mid 1980's it as one of the largest congregations in the country, a mega-church. And it was doing a terrific job of bringing people into the kingdom and ministering to their needs.
So was Bill and his church of 50 people a success? The other church sure was. Wasn't it? How do you think God the Father will greet each man in heaven? Will Bob be accorded a larger room/mansion/crown than Bill? Which man do you think has the greatest impact in the kingdom of God? Should Bill be sorry he didn't work harder or convert more or have a larger building? Bob gets invited to speak at all the large church conferences? Why? Because he is a success and Christians love success.
What if Bill were invited to speak, instead of Bob? Do you think he might have something just as good to say? He might even have a word of truth from God for those assembled. "But," you say, "no one would come, because no one knows Bill or his church." My answer is: "What does that say about the Church of Jesus Christ in the 20th/21st century?" It says to me that we have allowed the world to set our agenda, determine our directions, and define our successes.
What ever happened to faithfulness? What ever happened to service? What ever happened to selflessness?
How can I encourage a brother or sister to remain faithful and courageous in their life of faith when there life continues to suffer failure and trouble? They are obvously not successful and therefore, maybe not faithful enough either.
Friends, faith is a relationship with the Father, not a definition of success.
Be true to who you are! Be faithful to God! Ignore the applause others are getting. God looks at the heart, not the numbers. Whoever said, "Bloom where you are planted." had it right. Even one flower is a beautiful creation.
Charlie
posted by Charlie | 1:22 PM
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