“Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

Jesus sent out the “seventy-two” ahead of him to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God.  The seventy-two returned rejoicing and exclaimed, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”  Jesus responded by telling them not to rejoice that spirits submit to them, but that they have a relationship with the Father and him. 

We tend to think in terms of doing and accomplishing rather than having been called by Jesus to be in relationship with him and the Father.  Jesus reminds the seventy-two and us not to rejoice in measuring our accomplishments for him, but rather that we have a relationship with God and him. 

For the last few years, I have been coordinating spiritual renewal programs at our parish involving the Alpha Program and the Rescue Project, both of which have a video series with talks and small group discussion serving to introduce people to the Christian message and to renew their Christian walk.  With each program I had to fight the tendency to dwell on how many people attended and were prayed with to experience the renewal of their faith, rather than just thank the Lord for the opportunity to serve him. 

Like the seventy-two, my tendency was to want to measure the “success” of our efforts rather than just rejoicing in the opportunity to work for the Lord and experience the relationship with him flowing from that work. 

Do you seek to measure the success of your work for the Lord, or are you satisfied with just knowing that you are working for him?