There’s this story of an evangelist who always lived in competition. He went to measure the crusade tent of another healing evangelist in America. He told his builders to erect something bigger than what he saw there. He thought he could do better than the evangelist. He died prematurely. What he failed to realise is that success is relative.
Friend, you need to understand God’s definition of success if you would not put yourself under unnecessary pressures or live below your capacity of greatness (Psalms 16:11). Success is relative. It is not measured by what you do but by what you could do. It is not about being the best but about being your best (Philippians 3:12-14). People may be clapping for you, yet heaven is not satisfied with your progress and success. Also, people may look down on you, yet heaven is celebrating you (Acts 7:54-60).
Success is relative. It is relative to what God has ordained for you (Acts 26:19). It is relative to your capacity of greatness. It is relative to your peculiar situation and circumstances. For example, a pastor can lead a congregation of 400 people and be highly successful before God. Whereas, another pastor can lead a congregation of 400,000 people and has not even scratched the surface of the divine allocation to his destiny.
Success is relative. If you measure yourself based on what someone else is doing, you would put yourself under unnecessary pressure (2 Corinthians 10:12). This is why I teach people to set realistic goals. A realistic goal is commensurate with your season in life. Goal setting is not just throwing some numbers around. It is looking at what is expected of you by God and what is attainable, given your present reality (Romans 12:3).
For some people, financial success this year could mean getting out of debt and being able to fulfil their obligations. While, for others, it could mean being able to inject a few million into their business. When you see the man who boasts about having made tens or hundreds of millions this year, you might think you are a failure financially until you realise that you lived totally debt-free the same year (Matthew 25:24-30).
Be careful who you compare yourself with. The fact that you could pray for 3 hours daily when you have people around you would barely pray for 30 minutes should not make you think that the 3 hours prayer is your best (1 Timothy 4:15). Otherwise, you would start cutting down on your prayer time, thereby short-changing yourself in destiny. What would matter at the end is how well you maximized the investment of God in your life. That should be your goal. Keep pressing.
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria