How does God really measure success? He does not measure it by what we have or own, or by our educational or personal achievements. He measures it by the degree of obedience to Him and His words. He measures it by how much we obey His commands.
In Matthew 22 verse 37 to 38, we find God's ultimate and greatest commandments:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind"
“You shall love your neighbour as yourself".
One of the main ways God wants us to show our love for Him and our love for others is by fulfilling the "Great Commission" in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.".
The Great Commission serves as a "double edged sword". In fulfilling it, we show our love for God and our love for people,
In this assembly, we have a vision to help do just that. We have a "Ladder of Success" that can help us attain success in God's eyes. This ladder encompasses the great commission and enables us too fulfil God's greatest commandments - of loving Him and loving others.
On that ladder there are 4 steps. The first step is to WIN - we show our love for God by winning precious souls for Christ. We do everything we can do to get them into the Kingdom of God. We go through the necessary "birth pains" to give birth to them for God's Kingdom. We want them to avoid hell and make heaven. This not only proves our love for God but our love for mankind.
The second step to climb is to CONSOLIDATE - we don't stop at winning people to Jesus. We take care of them like new born babies. We nurture and pay special attention to them providing them with their initial spiritual needs. We make ourselves available to them and even inconvenience ourselves to look after them. We "feed" them so they can grow and become strong. We don't leave them to fend for themselves. When we do this we show we love God. The souls of men, women and young ones all matter to him, that's why Jesus came. We also show we love people not only through our words but through our deeds.
The third step is to DISCIPLE / TRAIN - our love does not stop with consolidation. Just like we don't hands off our children at the pre-school and nursery stage, instead we see them through primary school, secondary school, college university (graduation) stages. It's the same thing with people born into the kingdom of God. We teach, mentor, disciple and train them. We do this to build the character of Jesus in them. We strive to make them firm, strong, bold and dependable. We work with them till they are standing on their 2 feet. We equip and provide them with the necessary tools they need. We don't abandon them when they upset and offend us. Why do we do this? We do it because we love God and love His creation - people.
The fourth and final step is to SEND - finally we release people because we love God and we love them. We release them to fulfil God's destiny for their lives, which is once again to "Go and make disciples of all men". We want more lives to be reached and touched than we can ever reach or touch. Just like parents are supposed to release their children to God's choice of a marriage partner whom they will subsequently (God willing) have children with. We must release our spiritual Children to go and bear fruit and "give birth" to new sons and daughters of God.
Oh what joy it brings to God when we genuinely show our love for Him and others by climbing this "ladder of success". Make this ladder your ladder, climb on it and you will have "success in God's eyes".
