Measure of success

What do you think of when you think of yourself as being successful? What do you see when you see yourself having reached your goals? What are your hearts greatest desires?

Many people think that they need to be married, have children, run a global empire and/or own all the latest and coolest techno gadgets. From a worldly view point, I think I am pretty far from ‘successful’. At my age most people are married, have 3 children, a stable job and own some property. Me – I am single, no children, rent my flat and while I love my job, it is anything but stable.

So I started thinking about what is expected of us from a biblical point, what type of success should we be striving for. Most of the above listed things are good and could certainly be used to bring glory to God. I am in no way saying we should be striving for these things, I am saying that if we don’t have them yet – it does not make us a failure. There is so much more that we should be doing, if we took out the expectations that society has on us – what’s left?

What if there were no expectations, if you followed Gods plan for your life regardless of how many years that meant you may be single, or if you never reach the top of the corporate ladder. Can you still consider yourself a success?

I think we should be basing our success more on our relationship with God and what we are doing for the others than on how much money we earn or what material things we have in our lives. We should be serving others as Jesus Served.
Mark 10:43-45 “but among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave for everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many”

Of course we should strive to be good at our jobs – but our heart behind it should be to serve others. God’s measure of success involves our obedience and faithfulness to Him. Are we accomplishing His goals and purpose for our lives? Are we using our gifting he has given us?

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves… but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant…”

“Gods call is for you to be his loyal friend, to accomplish His purposes and goals in your life.” Oswald Chambers



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