Bigger is always better!
Possibly a mantra of our society, right? We want bigger bank accounts, bigger influence, bigger homes, bigger budgets, bigger social media platforms. Most of us probably could not imagine organisations that don’t want to see growth. And churches worldwide are much the same, some measure growth in Sunday attendance, Groups, Baptisms, New Christians....and when those numbers are growing, there’s a sense of success, when they’re not, highly likely there’s a sense of failure or something is wrong! On a personal level, it’s easy to fall into the trap of measuring our success by things like the amount of money we earn, the type of car we drive, how wide our networking circle is or the time in which we can run a half marathon! It's not inherently wrong to measure progress by numbers, however the problem comes when numbers are the only markers of success, both corporately & personally.
So how would you define success according to scripture?
Consider John the Baptist – his ministry lasted less than two years, he began his work in the wilderness, he ate and dressed oddly, he did nothing to gain approval or avoid disapproval in the sight of man. He had thousands flock to hear his message, but then had a steady & steep numerical decline in his ministry.
John was clear about who he was, and who he was not. And declared to his followers that “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.” John 3:27. That for John was success. So, possibly a great definition of personal success is ‘becoming the person who God called you to become and doing what God called you to do.’
When we define success wrongly, it means our best energies will be invested in things that don’t necessarily lead people to be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do what Jesus did. If we injected Jesus’ last words spoken ‘to go and make disciples’ into every area of our lives, what would need to change? Would our time, money and thought life be spent differently?
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