For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 19:10
And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31-32
We’ve all had the experience of failing at something. In fact, if we never failed, we’d never succeed either. Why? Because it is usually our failures that motivate us to achieve our successes. Sometimes we fail through no fault of our own. For instance, we plan a trip to the beach with friends, only to have it get rained out. The plan, while a good plan, failed because of an outside factor, the weather. And many times, after a failure, we focus on what we were not able to do, not the effort we put forth. Again, with the beach example, if the beach trip got ruined, we’re more likely to focus on the failed outcome, than on the effort to get friends together that didn’t materialize.
God rewards effort, not necessarily what appears as success. For instance, let’s say a Sunday school teacher prepares an amazing lesson, but only a few children attend the class that Sunday. I believe that God will reward the effort of the teacher in preparing the lesson, and not focus on how many children were there to receive it.
When I was much younger, I used to idolize/be jealous of priests in larger parishes. I thought negative about myself—why am I not in some more prestigious place with more people in church on Sunday? And I thought negatively about God—why don’t You put me somewhere where I can have more impact? After lots of thought and reflection, and discussion with my Spiritual Father, I came to understand God expects me to do the best I can with what I’ve been entrusted, and stop looking at what other people have been entrusted. What we are doing in life should not be a competition against others. We’re not expected to outwork, or outpace, or out-earn anyone else. God has blessed each of us with a different set of circumstances and opportunities and He expects us to make the best of OUR opportunities, not with someone else’s.
One challenge to faith, and to life in general, is the thought “Am I enough?” The problem with this question is that when asking whether or not we are enough, what natural follows is “Am I enough, compared to who?” I have never believed that God will judge us based on the merits of others, but on our own efforts. The better question to ponder is “Am I giving the best possible effort?” If the answer is “yes,” then there is nothing else that God can expect from us. Of course, when we look deep inside ourselves, we know that for many of us the answer is “no.” We certainly could be doing better when it comes to effort.
There are two Scripture passages to reflect on in today’s message. The first is from Luke 19:10, at the conclusion of the story of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus. After Zacchaeus repented and told Jesus that he would give half of his goods to the poor and restore fourfold anyone he had defrauded, Jesus pronounced that salvation had come to his house that very day. Jesus, in other words, was pleased with the effort. He was not hung up on the past failures of Zacchaeus, but was instead rewarding his effort at repentance. When Jesus said “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), He was essentially saying “I came to save people just like you, not the perfect people, but the people who are making an effort.” Jesus wasn’t dwelling on the fact that Zacchaeus was lost, but that he had now found himself.
Jesus builds on this idea in Luke 5:31-32, when He said “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” In other words, Jesus did not comes to minister to the perfect, but to those who are struggling and striving to find repentance. One beautiful thing about Christianity, and specifically about Orthodoxy, is that there isn’t a period of probation imposed when one comes to repentance. When one comes to confession, absolution is granted immediately (in most cases), restoration occurs immediately.
Whether we are talking about working at a job, or working at repentance, God measures effort, not success, again because success is sometimes beyond our control. God doesn’t measure us against one another, because the path and opportunity of each person is different. Comparing ourselves to others is not helpful or motivating. Being able to look into one’s own heart in a prayerful and reflecting manner will give us motivation if our effort is lacking, and fulfillment if our effort is solid, even if the outcome is less than what we had hoped for.
I am currently working on a project where I’m not exactly sure what the outcome will be. That is because I cannot control the outcome, only the effort I put into the process. In this instance, and in many others, I focus on process and not on outcome. Thus, when the outcome is not exactly what I was hoping for, I am comforted with the fact that I’m following a good process consistently, and not focusing on whether particular outcomes are good or not. Because the process I can control. The outcome is largely outside of my control. And I believe God works in the same way. He knows our process, just like He knows our hearts, and I believe He will reward the process, and not the outcome, and that is because a good process generally leads to a good outcome. On the occasions that it doesn’t, I believe God will value process and intent more than outcome.
Lord, each day presents each of us with a new opportunity to glorify You, to do things to help others, and to make the most out of opportunities, even one as basic as waking up to see a new day. Guard my mind this day, so that it can be focused on making a good effort with the time and the opportunities presented to me. Help me to focus on effort even in the times when achievement eludes me. Help strengthen my belief, and thus my focus, in making a good effort today. May all that I do honor You today. Amen.
God crowns effort, not success. Make sure you give a solid effort today, and don’t focus only on the outcome.
