Success

Everyone likes success. A while ago, I was making a small coffee table. Each joint for each leg had to be at exactly 90 degrees in every direction. I clamped them ready for gluing and checked each with my square. The first was fine – relief! And the second and the third. Then came the fourth. Just a bit out. What a disappointment! I had to spend the next hour or so carefully shaving off little bits with my chisel until I’d reached perfection. But when I had, what delight! And to this day, I take the greatest of pleasure when I look at my little oak coffee table.

Yes, we all like success.

But God’s Kingdom isn’t built on that kind of success. When Jesus commissioned the seventy-two disciples, it seems that he didn’t tell them to cast out demons, as he had the twelve. However, they had encountered them and had expelled them in the name of Jesus. And they really did leave. When they reported back to Jesus, they said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name’. Success beyond expectation!

But Jesus issues a warning: “The fact that your names are written in heaven is much more important than having demons submit to you”. Belonging to God, far outweighs a ‘successful’ ministry. As a matter of fact, who were the demons submitting to? Yes, it was in the name of Jesus, but it was to Him, not to ‘us’ that they submitted. I believe that Jesus was aware of the potential danger that the disciples would begin to think that success was more important than their relationship with God.

God wants every one of His children to be fruitful for His Kingdom. But Kingdom fruitfulness doesn’t necessarily look like what the world calls success. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul writes: I planted, Apollos watered, but God has been making it grow. What makes planting successful? A growing plant. What shows that watering has been successful? A growing plant. Did Paul make it grow? Did Apollos make it grow? No. God did.

True success in God’s kingdom is when we are so related to Him that He can achieve His purposes through us. Get this relationship right and there will be success. It may not look like what others call success. We may never see the end result of what we have obediently done as we walk with God. But we will have played our part, and that’s what God is looking for. We may plant something and never see it grow. We may water something, never to see it flourish. But if it was done in obedience and in relationship with God, it was successful.