The Measure of Success
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Our friend, Diks, was here recently for a visit from Latvia. My husband, Steve, and I picked him up in Seattle and made our way back to Bend where Diks was due to preach. Diks is the Director of a youth camp in Eastern Europe. We have known him for just over twenty years. We all have grown spiritually over the years, including the kids at the camp. Eagles Wings Camp was opened in 2004 when Diks was in his early twenties and we were in our forties. Campers from the early years are still returning as youth leaders.
“How do you measure success in God’s work?” Diks asked once we exhausted the normal banter among friends. My thought was that we default to the low-hanging fruit of noting the new faces in our church, the number of people introduced to Jesus, or the frequency of new baptisms being performed. But these signs are temporary markers, flowers in a field that bloom and quickly pass away. God’s work is an inside job. Sometimes he gives us the eyes to see growth. More often, however, it is hidden from our sight.
The Lord planned work for us to do long before we even learned to walk and talk. I met the Lord properly in my late twenties and began my spiritual evolution through reading the Bible and participating in a Bible-believing community. I have had incredible spiritual leaders and served in the role of a Bible guide and mentor myself. This is the life of a Christ follower and there is no graduation or term limit.
The inclination you have to teach, speak, write, paint, sing, or pray is a gift from God. It may become the work he planned for you to do for his kingdom and you walk around with it in your pocket already. Discovering God’s will for your life may be as simple as turning out your pockets to see what you are carrying around. Is it the desire to work with toddlers to sing Jesus Loves Me? Maybe it is reading through the Bible with one of your friends. Are you a drummer, or keyboard player, or have vocal talent you can share with others?
Once we have set ourselves on a ministry path, as surely as one ocean wave follows another, we ask ourselves if we are successful in God’s work. We all yearn for the gold star, the teacher’s A+, the nod of approval, or the pat on the back. The affirmation of others puts wind in our sails. Do not deny it. Who among us does not want to hear “Well done good and faithful servant?” Unfortunately, we do not get this positive feedback nearly as often as we would like. We may never get it. We might suffer serious setbacks. Then what?
Diks does the heavy lifting of translation from Latvian to English and repeats his question about measuring the success of God’s work. He recalled many kids he had seen who had accepted Jesus and after years turned away to other gods. He has seen kids deny the walk of a Christian and choose the pull of culture. He has seen kids believe, be baptized, and become youth leaders leading others along the same path.
By God’s grace sometimes we can see the fruit of our labor. We might miss it if we blink. We might be looking for a different sign and miss the one that is there. Regardless, we are called to do the work God prepared in advance for us to do. We turn our wheels and God steers us where we need to go. The important thing is to keep moving. Keep teaching, praying, reading, painting, leading, playing, singing, praising. You are created for good works.
Together we sort this stuff out—two Americans and one Latvian in a silver Toyota Tundra on a Saturday afternoon buzzing down I-5 South. We have had a lifetime of learning, a lion’s share of travel mercy traversing the trail between America and Latvia, and we have a great big God. We work this out with fear and trembling, by faith through grace. It has been said that three strands of a chord are not easily broken. We are just three of so many strands. Thank God.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. Eph 2:10