Rejoice in Salvation
Rejoicing in your salvation instead of ministry success sets you up for success in the long haul.
Jesus tells us to rejoice over our salvation and not ministry success.
Why?
2 Peter 1 is one of the more full pictures of salvation we see in the scripture.
Rejoicing over ministry success is fleeting. We see God as moving when numbers go up. I’m not saying he isn’t in those situations. But when the success is the drug, once success runs out…we go to withdrawal.
Then we think God is no longer moving if he is not moving externally.
All of salvation is God moving inside of you, not in the external. This we can always rejoice in. When everything dries up, we can still be excited about what God is doing inside us to make us into his image.
His divine power gives you everything you need for Life. This is not dependent upon you having a growing ministry. He will always supply his divine power.
His glory and excellence is always available to you, even when the going doesn’t seem excellent.
When life keeps punching us, you still have escaped the corruption of the world.
When no one seems to respond, God continues to deepen his qualities inside of you. In his eyes you are still productive when he is growing inside of you.
When everything you try seems to stumble and fall, God instead sees you as upright and strong because of his salvation.
And if you lose the qualities of God, but gain the biggest ministry, God sees you as nearsighted and forgotten his purification.
Rejoicing in God’s salvation prevents the trap of the drug of success. Ministry is a long game played over a lifetime, not a flash that’s over in a second. The more your rejoice over what matters, the stronger you will be over the long haul.