What's the True Measure of Success?

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Transcript

Audrey McCracken: 1:13

Hello friends, welcome back to Grace. For my Home here in South Carolina, it is extremely hot. As I'm recording this, it's the beginning of July and that's just how it is here. It is stifling hot and humid, and so the last couple of weeks I have not been able to take my walks like I normally do. And I can tell I can do and I can tell I can tell mentally, I can tell physically that I need that exercise. Walking is my go-to exercise. It gives me a chance to get outside and just clear my mind and, of course, get a little bit of needed exercise at the same time. So I am looking forward to it cooling down a little bit in the next few weeks, hopefully, and I can get some walking in. But overall it's been a great time. It's been a great season.

Audrey McCracken: 2:05

We are on summer break. Right now. My husband is taking a few weeks off also to be with us, as we're home and I'm still working at the shop, but only a few days a week now All of my boys are home. They, of course they're teenagers now, so they've got all kinds of things going on during the week and I don't see them as much, but we still try to take time to do some things together. My youngest son just turned 14. This past week we took him out to eat as a family, did some things together, but we're going to have a celebration for him. As each of my boys have turned 14, we have tried to do something special for them on their 14th birthday, because that is just such a milestone to me. It's that time when you're growing from a kid to a young man, and I think it's important to recognize that and to let them know hey, we see this, we recognize that you're growing, not just physically but you're maturing, and we encourage you in that. We believe that God has good plans for you. And so for each of my older two boys, we had a banquet, and during that banquet we had men and women from our church who came and we had a meal together and we just spoke good things over each of our boys, each of our older two boys, and the men and women of our church prayed over them, and that was just something that I have always had on my heart to do for my, my sons, as they matured. And so Caleb, my youngest, is at that age now. We were not able to do it on his birthday, because one of our dear friends who is he will always be my pastor. He is out of town right now and we want him to be a part of that he will. He's actually out of the country right now and he won't be back in the country until the middle of July, and so when he gets back we're going to do that.

Audrey McCracken: 4:05

And so busy summer, you know a lot going on. My husband right now has taken my three sons to his brother's house, which is about four hours away from us, so they can spend some time with their cousins up there, and so it's given me a little time by myself, which I cherish, I love. I'm so thankful that he's given me this opportunity to spend some time in prayer and just spend some time alone. I've needed this, and so I'm trying to take advantage of it. And I don't I'm not trying to make you jealous. I know what it's like to have little ones at home and you feel like you never get a moment right but I needed this time just so I could pray through some things, because I've got some big decisions coming up. So I could pray through some things because I've got some big decisions coming up, and so the Lord has allowed me to have this little bit of time to do that.

Audrey McCracken: 5:04

I wanted to talk. First of all. I wanted to say thank you to Addie from New Jersey. There's a new setup on my Buzzsprout account, which is where I do my podcast, where you can actually send me fan mail, and Addie sent me a message and it so blessed me. This week. She told me a little bit about her and her situation and some things that she would like me to talk more about and that encouraged me so much because that's the first time I'd met Addie, and the only thing I don't like about the new fan mail is that I can't respond.

Audrey McCracken: 5:41

I wanted to respond back and say, hey, I'm here, I've got your message, so I thought, well, I'll just I'll do a shout out this week and say thank you, thank you for the message and I will take your suggestions to heart and in the upcoming weeks I will do just that, because it's hard being a mama. You know it's hard being a mama, especially when you're trying to raise children in a Christian way and you are trying to fight against the culture that's around us and to raise children who are countercultural, who are not like all of the other children around us Not that we don't love the other children around us, not that we don't love the other children around us, not that we don't love the other people around us but we want our children to believe in Jesus, and we do not live in a world right now who believes in Jesus, and so that's why I'm here is to encourage you in your pursuit to raise your children for the Lord and, at the same time, to grow spiritually yourself, which is no small task. And I want to encourage anyone else. If you'd like to send me a message, if you'd like to give me some suggestions on things you would like me to speak on, maybe some things I've touched on in the past but didn't go in depth about, or or just anything. Anything. If I can't and I won't, I'll let you know, but any, anything that you would like me to speak on, please message me. You can message me through Facebook.

Audrey McCracken: 7:08

My email is in each podcast episode, in the notes, and also this new fan mail that you can send me a message and it comes directly to me and I will gladly take it under consideration. And when you send me your name, I put you on a list of people who I pray for, because I see this as a ministry. I see this as an opportunity to serve people who I may never see face to face. To serve people who I may never see face to face. But we have a kindred spirit and we're about our father's business, trying to do what he's asked us to do in our homes.

Audrey McCracken: 7:45

But this week I wanted to talk with you about success and what success is, what it looks like and what it means in the kingdom to succeed. This is to me a very encouraging message, because I think there's a part of us, and each one of us, that knows that we're called to something, that knows that we are created for something, or at least hopes that we are created for something, that our life has meaning that we aren't just blobs that evolved and now here we are. But we were created, we were formed, we were designed, we were molded by the hands of the master who breathed his very life into us, and he not only created us, but he gave us a purpose. He has a master design, a master plan, and we're part of that. And so I get excited when I think about those things, because I think, oh, he's got a place for me in there and I want to find out what that place is.

Audrey McCracken: 8:51

And so a lot of times in this world, people talk about success, and it's usually when they talk about success. Or it's usually when they talk about success, or they're talking about very flashy things, right, they're talking about success in business, you know, in finances, success in being popular or being known or being famous, or, you know, in all of these areas. When we think of a successful person, it's usually someone who has been successful in those areas where the world puts the most emphasis and everything. But that's not how the Lord judges our success, aren't you glad? Because we, all of us, can be successful in the calling that God has on our life. You know we can all stand before him one day and hear those words well done, my good and faithful servant. And nobody else has to even know our name for that to happen.

Audrey McCracken: 9:53

And you know I think so often about the Lord, our precious Savior, and the life that he lived. You know he was only in ministry for three years and he died a relatively young man, he died at the age of 33 and he lived a wonderful life because he lived a life of obedience. He saw miracles, he performed miracles, he trusted his father, he was sent and he did everything that his father asked of him. You remember the meeting that Jesus had, or the conversation, I should say, that Jesus had with Peter? And Jesus was telling his disciples I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be persecuted by the leaders. I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be buried, and on the third day I'm going to raise from the leaders. I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be buried and on the third day I'm going to raise from the dead.

Audrey McCracken: 10:54

He straight out told them he did not sugarcoat it, he did not hide it. You know he wasn't talking in allegorical language. He straight out told them this is what is going to happen. And when Peter heard it, it says he rebuked Jesus. He basically said no, lord, that is not going to happen. And Jesus rebuked him and said get behind me, satan. You do not desire the will of the father, but your own will. And see Jesus. His only desire was to please the Father. He was committed to do whatever the Father asked of him. And to him that was success. And to Peter that was not success. To Peter, success was being considered a success in the eyes of the world. And we, as Christians, we have to choose what is success to us, and we have to come to that point that we will live our life not for our own will, not for our own definition of success, but for what our father calls success. Because if we look on the life of Jesus and we measure Jesus's life by our own worldly definition of success, he would fall short.

Audrey McCracken: 12:31

Think about it. He never married, he never had a big corporation, he was never financially well off. He died at the age of 33. He was considered a heretic by his own people. He was rejected by the Jews his own people that he came to save those that he loved. And he was betrayed by one of his own disciples. He was shamed, he was found guilty in a court of law and hung on a tree and humiliated and spat upon and he died. And he died with no friends of support. Only a few women and only one of his disciples out of the 12 were actually there at his crucifixion. And when you look at his life in that picture, in that way, it doesn't seem like a success. But at the end of the day, he was the only success. He was the only one to ever succeed, the only man born in this world to ever obey to the very end.

Audrey McCracken: 14:06

Because, see God, our Father, he measures success by obedience. That's success, you know. He gave Adam and Eve everything they could ever want and he put them in paradise and all they had to do was obey. And they only had one thing, that was prohibited. But that was the one thing that they did. They didn't obey, and so that was the first Adam, and Jesus was the last Adam. And where the first Adam did not obey, the last Adam did obey. And because he obeyed he made a way for us.

Audrey McCracken: 14:57

And we too can be successful in the eyes of the Lord, in the eyes of God, by obeying in Christ. Now we can't do it in our own strength, in our own ability. I often say, if I could obey God, if I could please God without Jesus, then Jesus died in vain. But God knows we can't. That's why he sent his son to die for us. But in him, in Christ, I can obey. In Christ I can please the Father, not because I please him, but because Christ pleases him or pleased him, and I am in Christ. Because of Adam's disobedience, all were brought under sin, under the rule of sin, because of Christ's obedience. All can come under God's favor, not because we've done right, but because Christ did right. He is the only success story, and when we hook up with him, when we come in Christ, when we receive his pardon, when we are associated with him and we die so he can live in us, then we too become a success story. I love that. There's hope in that. There's hope in that that, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how ugly things look, I can still be considered successful in my God. To my Lord, my father is pleased, not by the amount of money I make, or not by even the number of souls that I win, but because I obeyed to the end.

Audrey McCracken: 16:52

You know, in ministry I've been in ministry for many years in some capacity, whether full time or part time or, you know, whatever that means. And you know ministry we sometimes it feels people think it's. You know there's just this holiness that comes with it. There's not. I mean there's a reverence for people. I have a great respect for people who give up their life for ministry, but people in ministry struggle with the same issues as people who have a nine to five job, who work for a corporation or who own a business and work for themselves.

Audrey McCracken: 17:34

We all struggle with competition, we all struggle with significance, we all struggle with wondering if we're doing the right things, if we're doing them right. And if we're doing them right, what is the proof, what are the signs of success? And we have to find our success in Jesus. We have to find our well done in our father, because the world will pat us on the back but that doesn't mean that we're doing the right things. So we have to draw near to our father so we can hear when we are doing the right things and when we aren't, so that when we aren't, we know it before. We stand before him so we can get it right before that time. And he loves us, he wants us to succeed, he wants us to do those things that he's called us to do and he doesn't just plop us down here on the earth and say, ok, now you figure it out. He gives us his Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us into all truth. We can be successful in this world, in this life, because Jesus Christ lives, because he did it and because we draw along with him, we talk with him, we fellowship with him, we find out what he's doing, what he wants us to do. You know, jesus said I do what I see my father doing, that's what I do. And so we have to get along with him and say Lord, what are you doing? You know what are you doing right now on the earth. Where do you need me? What should I be doing? Where should I put my hands to work that is being successful in the kingdom?

Audrey McCracken: 19:19

I read a book years ago by Richard Wurmbrand, who I love. He was a Romanian pastor during the Soviet takeover of many communist countries and what are now communist countries in Europe, and he spent years in prison, in jail, for his beliefs, because he refused to bow the knee to the Soviet regimes that came in and he refused to preach their watered-down gospel. He held on to the truth and he was persecuted because of it. And many years later he was able to come to the United States and he and his wife were actually at a church, ministering at a church, and this pastor was a young pastor and this pastor was very proud of his church, of his new church, and he was showing him the buildings and he was showing Richard Wurmbrand the buildings, the new building they had for the church and the classrooms, and you know, just showing them the facilities. And they said, oh, it was very nice, very nice. And he said, yes, you know, we hope to build a large congregation and be very successful. And Richard Wurmbrand stopped him and said son, building a large congregation does not make you successful. Obedience makes you successful. He said, when I was in communist countries, I could have had large congregations had I gone along with the narrative that the communists gave me, but I refused to do that, and so, therefore, my success was my chains, and that really stuck with me.

Audrey McCracken: 21:20

We should only define success in God's terms, not our own. So many times when I have been home with my children and I haven't had time to brush my hair, and I haven't even had time to brush my teeth, and every time I walk by a mirror I say, oh, I hope nobody shows up unexpectedly and I have three children crying at one time and their toys all over the floor. I can't walk in the living room and there's a mound of clothes that haven't been fold on the chair. And then, at that very moment, when I don't feel like I can take any more and I feel like a complete failure. Somebody drops their bowl of Cheerios on the floor milk and all. It's at that moment that I need to know that success is not about my position in this world, that success to Jesus is obeying him, that at that moment success means cleaning up the Cheerios without yelling, that at that moment success means putting up the toys again, knowing that in just a few minutes I'll have to put them up again and submitting to the life that I now have, and not being angry about it, but understanding there's a purpose. There's a greater purpose here. I'm not just taking care of children. I'm raising men and women of God to love him, to trust him, to believe in him, and that's a slow but worthy process. That's when we have to know what success really is, that it's not flashy, that nobody else may understand it, nobody else may choose it, but our hearts are to please our father in whatever capacity he calls us in.

Audrey McCracken: 23:34

I have nothing. I have no problem with money. I just want you to know that. You know a lot of times people think you know money is evil. It's not money. Money is not evil, it's the love of money that is the root of all evil. You can have money and it not have you.

Audrey McCracken: 23:48

I have no problems with people building empires and building successful businesses. I think that's awesome. I think that's a God-given talent. I have no problem with people being famous and people looking up to them. That's wonderful, especially if they're people of great character. I'm like, yes, we need some good role models in this world. We need some people of character.

Audrey McCracken: 24:15

I'm all for that, but that's a very limited view of what a successful person is, especially when it comes to the kingdom of God, because he sees our daily successes and he cheers us on, because he knows how hard it was for you to clean up that mess. It was for you to clean up that mess when you really just wanted to sit on the floor and cry, or when you really just wanted to yell, or when you really just wanted to go drown your feelings in something else Maybe your phone, maybe something else but you were there, but you were attentive, but you were awake, but you were in the moment with those little ones because they need you. That is success today and I encourage you start seeing yourself as a success, not because you're perfect, not because people in the world look at you and think, oh, I want to be just like that. But because you're obeying your father, even when it doesn't look like you hoped it would or you thought it would, I hope this has been an encouraging word for you today, because your father is proud of you for trying, and you need to know that he is cheering us on. He wants us to be successful. He wants us to be successful, he wants us to make it. He wants us to do the good things that he prepared for us to do before the foundation of the world.

Audrey McCracken: 25:49

Father, I thank you for my sisters today who are out there in the trenches raising up men and women of God who right now are just children. Men and women of God who right now are just children, lord, even grandchildren, lord. They're being that example that their grandchildren need and, lord, you're doing a work in them, even as they are serving these little ones. You are doing a work in them. You're making us into the image of Christ and that is success. And I pray today that you would help us to change our mindset, that, lord, you would help us to see ourselves through your eyes. Give us more and more grace, lord. Help us to have grace with ourselves and we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace In Jesus name Amen.