We are a people who love success. We are obsessed with it. We love winners! Sometimes we are tempted to be successful at any cost. We sometimes forget the idea that it is not about winning or losing, but how we play the game.
Recently, I think I became too focused on results in my ministry. The results were meager and I wanted to quit. I thought that perhaps the lack of results was God’s will to quit.
So, I prayed to God and meditated on Scripture. However, he impressed on me that he did not want me to quit. He wanted me to keep going.
This reminded me of the prophet, Jeremiah. God gave him a ministry without much success. Israel did not pay attention to Jeremiah’s messages from God. As a result, he was called, “The Weeping Prophet.”
If I continue in this ministry, like Jeremiah, I may be facing a lot of obeying without much success. This is painful! I often use success as a measure of my worth.
Without success, I often feel a loss of worth. However, my worth is great and fixed in God’s eyes (Isaiah 43:4). Nevertheless, the lack of success makes it hard to live in this reality.
Therefore, I think it is helpful for me and for you to know and remember the following truths about obeying God versus success.
- God’s definition of success is often different from ours (Isaiah 55:8-9)
- We always succeed when we obey (1 Corinthians 15:58)
- Obeying God will always have a greater reward than success (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
- Success will never increase our worth (Ephesians 1:3-14)
May I challenge to you today to ask God to show you where you may be pursuing success at the expense of obeying him. Ask him to show you what to do about it.
Journey into Lightl 
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