Malcolm’s myeloma had
returned. His disease had been under control for three years but now the
paraproteins were rising. I explained our need to resume therapy and the
consequences of such therapy. He and his wife were satisfied and agreed to
proceed as I had suggested. His chances of a repeat remission were good.
As Malcolm left the
room, he shook my hand and said, “Thank you for being here for me, Doc. I
believe in you.”
I responded,
tongue-in-cheek, “You’d better believe in God and just trust me to do my best.”
He replied, “It’s a
given that I keep God first. But I’m sure glad you’re on my team.”
There is a difference in outcomes
and effort. Certainly the two are
associated, but in an imperfect way. This patient believed in me for an outcome
I could not guarantee. If I do my job with excellence, I will more likely see a
good outcome for him. But I am responsible for effort with excellence, not
outcome.
So it is with evaluating our work for God’s kingdom. We may
or may not see people coming to Christ through our efforts. We count up the
poor who are fed, the sick who are healed, the souls that are saved, the church
that has grown; and then we either take credit with pride or feel like we have
failed our King---but this is measuring the wrong things.
Outcomes are all God’s business. We are told to feed the
poor, heal the sick, bear witness for our Lord, serve faithfully in our churches
and do so with excellence. But the only power that accomplishes for the kingdom
comes from God. Our job is to seek His presence, seek His will, obey what we
can discern and trust Him with the outcomes. Never is it our right to take on
the credit or the blame for God’s results. We should run as far as we can from
crediting God’s “successes” or “failures” as our own. In fact, a lack of
personal credit may be a good sign that we are doing things well.
Oswald Chambers put
it this way: “The proof that you are on God’s line is that other people never
credit you with what comes through you.”
We should look at
ourselves this same way: effort with excellence, ours---outcomes, His.
Dear God,
Let me do my work as a servant should. Please
accomplish all that you seek through me and let me trust you for the outcomes.
Amen
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