He . . . said to them, ’Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem . . . ’ —Luke 18:31
At sixty-one it may be time to evaluate whether I have succeeded in life. Normally we do that by determining whether we have reached our goals. I would say I have been successful or a complete failure depending on which goals I use as a measuring stick. It seems my goals changed, sometimes dramatically through my life. I guess I will decide that the goals I have managed to meet were the highest goals and conclude that my life has been a success.
That’s okay in our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him?”. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . .” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. Our goal is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
And what will be the results if we do His will? There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us.
We will know we have “succeeded” when we hear Him say, “Well, done, good and faithful servant.”
Be blessed.
Nick
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