Have you ever looked back over the chapters of your life with feelings of inadequacy, failure, or disappointment in what you view as a lack of success? Has the life you once imagined for yourself somehow evaded you though you pushed forward in faith through each and every day? I have certainly had those moments of self-doubt, wondering what I had to show for the 57 years of my life, wondering how my life became so different from what I once dreamed it would be; but, this morning God brought it to my attention that His perspective of success is not the same as mine.
Today, success is measured by our accomplishments, but in God’s eyes it is measured by our obedience to do His will. Sometimes within the act of obedience we still feel as if we are not accomplishing what He sent us to do, consider Jeremiah. He proclaimed the word of God for 40 years to Judah and not one of them ever listened to him. And then there was Noah, he worked to build the ark just as God instructed him warning them of the coming flood; however, regardless of his words the only ones that safely entered the ark were his family. How discouraging this must have been for him, it would seem that his life was not very successful. But, God say it differently, just as He sees each of us differently. He has given each of us a special task to accomplish, this task is for us alone and the doing of the task is where the success lies not in how others may or may not respond to the fulfillment of that task or what we may see as a visible accomplishment.
“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statues, which I command thee this day for thy good?” Deuteronomy 10: 12-13
Success in our life from God’s perspective is simply following Him each day, listening to His voice and following what He asks us to do. That is true success!!!!