One of the ways our society determines how successful a
person is, is by how much
If you have more church members, you are also more successful than the pastor with fewer members. The same thing is true when you are on social media: the number of followers, ‘Likes’, visitors and comments you get also determines whether you are popular (or successful in that regard) or not.
One of my idle pastimes on this blog is checking the number
of views it gets. I know it sounds daft, but I do. However I don’t check it to
feel happy or encouraged or anything like that. I am happy whether I get one
visitor or more or even less. But there was a time I wasn’t always like this. I
remember when I started writing articles for an online magazine, and how
discouraged and ‘unsuccessful’ I would feel if my article got only few comments
while articles on fashion or a celebrity received hundreds.
One day my whole perspective changed. And somehow I felt God
saying to me “everyone who views this article or even comments on it is
important”. As I thought about it, I realized that God does not work by
numbers. Not at all, every person is important to Him. In the Bible, Jesus
talked about the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In both cases,
the shepherd and the woman, left the remaining herd and coins respectively, in
search of the one that was missing.
I often wonder why they did it; I don’t think I would have bothered
myself. But before God, that one sheep was too important to be left alone, so
also was the lost coin. Indeed Jesus said that there is a celebration in Heaven
when one sinner repents. Not ten sinners, or a hundred, but one.
So these days I am happy regardless of the number of
visitors or comments I receive. I thank God for each one because I believe that
if it was just that person who needed encouragement, then to God be the glory
the person got it. God truly values each person.
As Christians we are encouraged to be faithful in the little
we have. God doesn’t want us to wait until we have more before we can become
faithful and grateful. If we find it difficult to be faithful in little, we
won’t be faithful in more.
So I encourage you, be excellent in all you do. If you are
hoping for a better job, be a good and excellent employee in your current job,
if you are unemployed, then use your time wisely to help others. If you are the pastor of a small church, don't treat your members carelessly. If you are a
business person, don’t treat ‘poor’ customers shabbily while hoping to get rich
ones instead. If you are waiting for a child or spouse, be nice to others who
have what you desire, don’t be jealous.
Remember success is not measured by numbers only, but by how
faithful we are with whatever has been given to us.
May God help us to become better stewards of all He has given us, amen.
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Image1 courtesy:http://www.practicalcourtship.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/courtship-little-thing.jpg
Image2 courtesy:http://www.stewardship.org.uk/images/blog/acorns.jpg
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