Failure, Success, and What God Requires Of Men
"My pastor/friend has a bigger church than I do."
"Wow. They can do what I do...but they do it BETTER."
"My career path isn't turning out like I thought it would."
"My job isn't very significant."
"I haven't done a good enough job leading my wife and children."
"Are these wasted years?"
"Should I be doing something more important with my life?"
I often feel that my life isn't proving, to the world, that I have very much worth. In those times, it helps me to remember something my dad told me once:
"Success is the extent to which you hear God's voice and follow."
God doesn't require, or measure a man's worth, by the impact he has. Neither does he applaud a man for the number of people that he influences. What is valuable, in God's sight, is...
men
needing to hear
yearning to hear
positioning themselves to hear
God's voice. And then
orienting their lives around what they've heard from God.
This is exactly what King David (on his death bed!) instructed his son Solomon to do:
"When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn" 1 Kings 2:1-3
There's no greater call to #manupmen than the call to follow Christ's lead in orienting our lives around hearing and following the voice of God.
