One of the incentives for making New Year’s resolutions is the ability to measure whether our lives are well spent. If we have improved in areas such as finances or health (which includes spiritual, emotional, and mental health), we may fool ourselves into thinking we are living a good life. However, by creating New Year’s resolutions without thinking about God’s plan for our lives, we are living our lives on our own terms and not submitting our lives to Christ.
The Bible tells many stories of people who gave up everything they knew – social success, a steady income, a place in the family business – to follow Jesus. They had no idea where they were going or what they were doing. All they knew was that Jesus was offering them a new life and they could decide whether to take it or not. Yet the stories of the characters in the Bible were all about doing something for God. Noah was asked to build the ark. Moses was asked to lead the people through the desert for 40 years. The disciples were asked to follow Jesus. All of these people had lives outside of God’s calling until they heard God’s voice and had a choice to make: obey the calling or continue their lives in the safety and happiness of the world. Yet these biblical characters are considered successful because of their obedience to God.
As Christians, we must measure our lives by the same principle. When we discern God’s voice in our lives, are we careful to obey Him? Or do we ignore it for the sake of the happiness and safety of the world?
I have endured many difficulties in life. When I was 20, my parents kicked me out of my home because I converted from Catholicism to born-again Christianity. I had to choose to completely abandon the old life I once knew and follow Jesus, believing that He would provide all my needs. After I married, my husband and I spent 23 years serving churches in obedience to God’s calling on our lives. No matter what our next chapter brings, I want to be someone who obeys God, not someone who ignores His voice and goes for money, security, or stability.
Here’s how I learned to measure my life by obedience, not worldly success:
I counted the cost
The Scripture gives the example of calculating the cost: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Do you not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to finish it? For if you lay the foundation and fail to complete it, all who see it will mock you, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish… Likewise, those of you who do not give up everything they have cannot be my disciples” (Luke 14:28-30; 33).
The Bible tells us to move forward in faith even after weighing the cost of following Christ. That said, living faith requires that we exercise wisdom in knowing whether a decision comes from God or not. Every time God has called me to take a risk for Him, it has cost me dearly. I lost relationships, homes, jobs, etc. Yet, I consider my life a success because I always took the step of faith, believing that God would provide all my needs, and He did. When God asks you to obey His calling, what will it cost you? God’s call normally costs us something. It could be our reputation, a job, a home, or even important family relationships. The steps we take toward obedience in our lives are worth it. What we may lose in material goods and popularity, we will gain in intimacy with God.
I took a big risk
I was asked to take a big risk. These risks involved the loss of people and property that were extremely important to me. Yet God asked me to risk these things and gave me even greater rewards as a result. God promises that he will never leave us and he promises to provide for all our needs. When we measure our lives in terms of obedience, how often have we been willing to take a risk for God? When we took the risk, was the reward even greater?
Big risks mean big rewards. But the reward may not appear in this life. For example, if we stand up for the truth against an evil boss, the reward may not be keeping our job. But God will be with us. He promises not to leave us during trials. Even when we can’t see the reward, we must trust that God is in control and sees everything we do.
I listened and obeyed the voice of God
Obeying the voice of God is a spiritual discipline that must be learned. When I became a Christian, I didn’t really understand how God spoke. I just thought he was speaking through the Word of God. Yet as I matured in my faith, I realized that God spoke to me in many ways. God has also spoken to me through other people, visions, intuition, image, word of knowledge, etc. If we want to achieve intimacy with Christ, we must learn to discern the voice of the Father. To obey God and what He calls us to do, we must also discern what God says. When you think you hear something from God, test it against God’s Word. Is this consistent with Scripture? If it doesn’t, throw it away. It is our own carnal desires to do what we want to do. If we hear something and are not sure if it is scriptural, test it with a mature follower of Christ. We should all have mature people to turn to for sound advice and guidance. Ask people we trust to speak into our lives and let us know if what we hear is from God or from ourselves.
To live a life of true success, we must learn to obey the voice of God. To obey what God calls us to do, we must weigh the cost and understand that it may take great risk for us to do what God calls us to do. This can cause us to leave our homes, break off relationships, or abandon a life of luxury for one of poverty, all to live our vocational life. However, when we reach the end of our lives, we will be able to consider ourselves successful because we obeyed what God called us to do. And it’s a life worth living.
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