The world has different criterias for success: fame, fortune, power, followers, etc. – Even when it comes to Christians, sometimes it’s how big is your church? how many miracles take place? and so on. What exactly is God’s measure of success?
There are many in the Word of God that by the world’s criteria would be considered as failures: Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul, Stephen, Job, Jesus Christ, etc. At one or many points in their lives, they were persecuted, abandoned or even worse, killed. They, however, had one thing in common: they stood faithful on the Scriptures. Jesus Christ once asked his disciples that when he returns, will there still be people on earth who believe in him, who believe rightly? When you look closely at the lives of all those believers that stood faithful regardless of their circumstances, you note that it was the Word of God that held them. Jeremiah said it burned in his bones and he could not stop speaking, Paul said despite what happens in times to come, Timothy was to preach the Word whether he felt like it or not, Jesus Christ said the words that he gave to them were spirit and life. God’s measure of success is whether or not we will stay faithful to stand on His Word despite what might come against us.