January 21

Written by Bill Grandi on January 21st, 2021

Bob Goff in his 365 Day Journey book Live In Grace*Walk in Love wrote these words while writing about life and love as we grow up:

“It was about what we did more than who we were. It was only natural to assume God worked the same way. Do good things and succeed and you receive love and approval from God. Mess up and love is withdrawn…If only we could remind ourselves more often that God never cares about the grades on our report cards. He wants us to make it all about His love, not our performance, and He’s a whole lot more concerned about our character than our accomplishments. He doesn’t find joy in our success; He delights in our attempts.” (#19-P.24)

A little later in that same Journey he wrote a powerful sentence:

He wants us to be captivated with purpose, regardless of whether it looks like worldly success.” (p.24)

Speaking for myself, I’ve often missed this. Caring more about the end result and how I will look, often took away the joy to be found simply knowing I was fulfilling His desire for me. Performance. Accomplishment. Success = All bogus. Finding joy. Contentment. Peace = Purpose.

What about you? “Father, I’m so glad You don’t look at me to see my success but to see me fulfilling Your purpose in me and for me. In that I will find my joy, contentment and peace.”

 

4 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S. says:

    What the world calls success… and to often, what I would call success, is not necessarily what God would call success. More the reason to have God’s purpose in mind and line up our goals with Him.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      And what I would call success as well. I spent way too much time looking around at other churches and pastors to measure my “success.” What a losing proposition. Thanks for your comment. I most definitely agree with you.

  2. Exactly, Bill! It’s not about what we do, but who we are in God’s eyes.
    Blessings!