The famous Sabbath-keeping Scottish Presbyterian runner Eric Liddell is remembered for saying, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” While most of us are not ever going to run in the Olympics, what Liddell said can be said by each of God’s people. God has created us in Christ Jesus for good works—including our vocations—and when we perform those works to the best of our abilities, we should sense God’s pleasure. To extend the analogy, what matters most is not whether we win the race (get the promotion, make the most money, or have the biggest office), but that we strive with the best of our God-given abilities to please Him in all that we do. That which pleases us most should be that which pleases God most. True success cannot be easily quantified. It is not success as the world measures success. Rather, it is striving to do even the little things that we do when no one is watching in a way that honors God and demonstrates that we have a proper relationship with creation and, even more importantly, with the God of creation.
The Bible reminds us repeatedly that God alone can cause our work to prosper. It is not simply by the might of our hands or the strength of our wills that success comes. Whether our vocations are inside or outside the church, it is God alone who gives the increase. In His perfectly wise providence, there are times when we work diligently for His honor, and yet we do not see the fruit of our labors as we might desire. There are other times when we do not work as well or faithfully as we ought, and yet God causes our work to prosper in spite of us. This is why we cannot measure success simply by quantifying visible results. We have to strive to see things the way God sees them and to measure things the way God measures them, not with worldly wisdom but with the wisdom of the Spirit.
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