Thurs Devo: What's Success?

How do you define success? Who’s standard do you use? Your bosses, your peers, your family and friends, or your own? It’s so hard not to view success by the standards of others.

What about when it comes to sharing the truths of God with others? Do you and I gauge our effectiveness or success by the response of others? I think I often do. After a conversation, I will try and think of what I failed to say or mention that might have helped the other person respond differently. It’s not bad to self evaluate so that I can learn from my experiences, but God’s the ultimate judge of success. He doesn’t rate success by the responses we get or the outcome, but by our obedience to Him.

Look at the example of the two witnesses that will prophesy at the end of time:

Revelation 11:3-7     ³ And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” ⁴ They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. ⁶ They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

⁷ Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.

Death doesn’t seem like a result of success but of failure! The witnesses certainly won’t convince the beast or many of earth’s inhabitants to turn to God. Even with all the power God gives them, people will choose not to believe. Their success in God’s eyes isn’t measured by the response of others, but by their faithfulness to speak the truth. They “finished their testimony” as verse 7 says and completed the job God gave them to do.

Do you and I feel like failures when it comes to influencing others for Christ? How can you and I remember that obedience is success and not the response to our obedience (or outcome), just like with the two witnesses?

Alice