Don’t succeed at things that don’t really matter to God. And don’t do good works just because they are good.
Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. -Francis Chan-
As a believer in Christ, God has called you to do good works. But good works don’t substitute for faith. They work with faith.
The problem starts when you get into the habit of doing something good just BECAUSE it is good.
Don’t succeed in things that don’t really matter.
As a believer in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you as to the good works you should do. But no person can be everything to everyone. And you have gifts that God has given you to help you serve as He desires.
But just because you have spiritual gifts in a particular area doesn’t mean that God wants you to say YES to everything that comes your way.
I have always been a people-pleaser type of person. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. So when I was asked to be a part of a committee or project, I would say YES.
I thought I must use my God-given abilities to help in every way. Otherwise, God wouldn’t be pleased with me.
I cringe when I think about all that now. My life was reeking with legalism, and I had no idea at all.
Talk about putting God in a box, I had him in one about the size of a ring box.
I started to read the Bible more and develop a closer relationship with God. Gradually I saw that many things I had participated in were not started by nor blessed by Him.
It’s true they were good things. But I realized that I had never seen much spiritual value gained by those who participated.
I began to feel the Holy Spirit leading me not to participate in certain things, and a great tug-of-war grew inside me. At first, I still said YES because of guilt. But I was so miserable that I couldn’t wait for the project to end.
People-pleasers feel an immense amount of guilt when they say NO, even if they KNOW they are not supposed to participate.
I was absolutely sure I wasn’t supposed to do the thing, but would still be swallowed up in guilt for days.
The more I learned to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, the more I was able to say NO and not feel guilty. When someone asked me to do something, I told them I would pray about it and see what God said.
If I didn’t feel I was supposed to do it, I didn’t mind saying NO because it wasn’t my decision. It was God’s decision.
I felt God had something else for me to do that would be successful in His eyes. And I found out that peace and joy come from knowing that what you are doing is in God’s Will.
There is a major difference in my life now. When you are open to what God wants you to do, you don’t feel like you have to make something happen to be a success in the eyes of the world.
Walking in obedience to God always makes you successful in His eyes.
He has an awesome plan for your life, but you only get to partake of His Best if you do things on His Terms.
Satan wants to keep you BUSY, BUSY, BUSY doing good things that will never make a difference for God. So be BUSY doing good things that God starts and wants to bless.
Don’t succeed at things that don’t really matter to God. Let Him start and bless the good things you do.
