“What will
Success look like?”
This is a
question that is often always asked by coaches or instructors while setting
goals. Some call it the big picture but this usually describes what the end
should look like.
Unfortunately for
those who do not have a strong imagination or are yet to train themselves to
visualize and see beyond what the physical eyes can see, describing the big
picture can be some sort of a struggle.
A few weeks ago,
my wife sat beside me and asked me a question that birthed this post. Her question
was; ‘what does success mean to you and what would it look like for us?’
She usually doesn’t
ask these sort of questions (that’s my forte) so coming from her, I knew there
was more to it. So instead of giving her a normal general definition of what I thought
success was, I paused and reflected on it for a very long time (and she didn’t move
an inch which confirmed to me it was serious business) before responding.
To help me gain
some more insight, I consulted the Webster dictionary and it gave me two
interesting definitions for the word success:
- the gaining of wealth, respect, or fame
- satisfactory completion of something
Now the
unfortunate thing is that the first definition is what a large majority of
people have adopted as the only definition of success.
The more I stayed
on the first definition, the more convinced I was that this wasn’t what the
Lord needed me to see. This was also coupled with the fact that my wife was
demanding to know what SUCCESS meant for us.
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith.
This was Apostle
Paul’s success story and it did not comprise of the things he has (possessions).
Unfortunately, we live in a world today where even believers measure success by the possessions they have. Where success in ministry is measured by
the size of the congregation. Where your packaging and bank account balance
means much more among believers than your character and the fruits of the
spirit.
And the Lord
began to open my eyes to see so many people going about doing things and “prospering”
in those things but the things they were doing was not what He has apportioned
for them to do and the score sheet in His hands showed they were failing.
I then remembered
the vision a sister once shared with me how she was driving out in the morning
and she saw droves of people trooping out in a hurry heading out to their
various “places of work” and the Lord was showing her that He did not send
these people on the vocations they were pursuing and how most of them have
never even asked Him what He apportioned to them.
We prayerfully did
a check and confirmed that we were exactly where God needed us to be, more
responsibility was coming and we are currently being positioned for it and we
gladly accepted the responsibilities in faith trusting Him to provide all that
we need to execute all He commands us to.
So my question
to you reading this post today is; Are you doing what God created you for? Are
you fulfilling purpose? Can you really say with no iota of doubt that you are
running your race and you are right on course?
Food for thought…
