So here’s the question of the week. How do you tell if you are successful? Is it how much money you make? Maybe it’s how high up you are on the corporate ladder. Maybe it’s by the number of people you reach or the amount of satisfaction you feel at your job. How is success measured in your marriage, at school, or with your friends?
I really have no idea how to help you define success in any of those areas, but I will tell you how I measure success within the church, the community of faith. And I think it is probably the same way Jesus thought about success, if he in fact ever thought about being successful. So think about this measure of success for whatever community of faith to which you belong.
How well do we recognize God’s grace in Christ to forgive us and reconcile us to God and what are we doing to share that grace with others?
I like that. Don’t know if I stole it or thought it but I found it in some notes I had written.
If people in the community of faith can really recognize God’s grace in their lives, to know that they stand before the living God free from any guilt of sin, then I believe the church is successful in getting out the message of the Good News.
Time after time Jesus brought grace into people’s lives and they seemed to ‘get it’. Their lives were changed as they realized how much God loved them. They were brought into the circle of grace. They who lived so often on the outside were brought inside. They were accepted by God and forgiven by God and they realized that something new had happened to them.
This is the essence of the Good News and this is the mark of the successful church. How we measure it can only take place in intimate and honest conversation about the journey of faith. I hope you have such a place for such a conversation.
God Bless,
George
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