Thought for Thursday, July 11th

July11, 2013                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The Call to Faithfulness

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Matthew  26:40-45

“God has not called us to be successful.  He has called us to be faithful.”

-          Mother Teresa

I often wonder if the greatest measure of success in the life of a Christian is not more determined by his/her degree of faithfulness: rather than by what we tend to surmise is the measure of success from a human perspective.

For us, often, success is evidenced by the accomplishment of a task or deed in a manner or means that produces a desired outcome or result that is both tangible and measureable.  Yet from a spiritual point of view, is this really a good measure for the validation of success?  While results are important and a means to quantify effectiveness seems imperative to us: what does God want and what does He measure as His litmus for achieving success?

I believe faithfulness is a key to achieving true spiritual success in our lives.  Remember we often reap what others have sown and conversely we sometimes sow what others will reap: while many if not most of the time we are not fully aware or cognoscente of the total process that has lead to the results we may see.  So much of what we do and what takes place in the realm of God’s kingdom is by His Spirit, because of faith and neither of these are seeable or measurable in a concrete means: yet the evidence of their effectiveness is undeniable.

So, maybe the greater call is not to see success from our perspective; but to remain faithful to Him in all things; knowing that all true success is for Him, by Him and without Him it just wouldn’t be so.

Our commitment to remain steadfast and faithful may result in greater success than we may ever see or know of – but ultimately God knows. 

Prayer:

Father, often discouragement sets in when we don’t see the results of what we feel are our genuine efforts: yet we do not have the capacity to know or see what You do and we never know how successful we may be if we will only remain faithful.  Help me to always answer your call to be faithful to do all you bring me to – regardless of what I may see as the outcome or whether or not I may think it is successful.