There are some lessons in life that I (Neil) feel like I might be relearning forever and ever 🙈

One of the recurring things that I have had to battle over the past year and a bit of theonehundredyearsproject has been the fact that, because what we are doing feels so small, it is insignificant. Even though I know that God has called us clearly and affirmed it many times, I still get embarrassed that what we do seems to have so little impact on the community we are based in, never mind any wider than that.

However, these past couple of weeks God has led me to some well-known verses found in the book of Zechariah to remind me once again how this whole ‘following Him’ stuff works. In the book, we see Zechariah having a vision of Jerusalem and the expansion that is to come there, but at that time the temple was ruined and broken—nothing like its former glory—a sorry sight. The angel of the Lord who appears before Zechariah speaks some truth contained in two verses that both Janet and I needed to hear.

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6b

‘Who dares despise the day of small things?…’ Zechariah 4:10a

These verses obviously have a context bigger than our situation, but I felt them speak to me very clearly and remind me again to keep the course we have been on. I love how God shows up in these ways through the Scriptures.

Let me explain more fully my journey in how I am learning what the Lord’s heart truly is in this area.

In the previous role we held in ministry, we saw thousands of people attend services and conferences that we hosted. We were a part of reaching many schools, launching ministries in multiple countries, feeding lots of people who were struggling, and seeing many miracles and salvations. It was an incredible time, something we were loving, and something we were very proud of (we hoped in a good way.) Today, in theonehundredyearsproject, we record a podcast which, on a good week, has 20 views; this blog, which might have 10 people reading it; Miracle Halls, where some weeks no one comes for prayer; and very few spectacular things have ever happened on our prayer walks that we can see.

On a human level, the two are incomparable. One seems very successful and the other not so much. When I judge them, there is no competition.

But that’s the problem—our lives aren’t judged on a human level! My perspective doesn’t really matter. God’s perspective is the only thing that truly counts when it comes to measuring our lives.

You see, I fall into the human trap of judging my life based on three things that I think we are all susceptible to:

• Is what I am doing scalable?

• Is what I am doing productive?

• Does what I am doing have impact?

We all do it, right? If someone has built a business, grown a church, developed a charity, etc. to a larger size, we tend to think of the venture as more successful than one that is smaller. If someone has gained a scalable financial output from their calling or is running around looking busy, we think they are doing well. A business which isn’t making much money is rarely considered a success. Someone who is scraping by month to month in terms of their finances isn’t usually celebrated as ‘being successful’. On top of all of that, we at least expect what we do to have an impact.

When I look at theonehundredyearsproject, I can’t say we are winning in any of these three ‘human’ areas.

However, the reality is that God’s perspective on our lives is not tied to these things. They are not the factors that He seems to deem important. It’s not that God is against the above areas. God values things that are big, things that provide a good income, people who are productive, and things that have an impact. It’s just that we also see that God is equally as pleased with someone with a small business, a small church, a minimum wage job, or a small bank balance. These things seem more like by-products of the things that He does deem important.

So what does God think is important? Here are three things I see as I have thought about it…

1 – God measures our lives in generations

Most of the time we are far too concerned with our lives within a very short window of time and we don’t seem capable of thinking beyond that. What I am learning is that there is generational significance to our everyday lives—a significance we might not get to see in our lifetime. In the book of Hebrews, we read about some characters that we also read about in the Old Testament—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. Here is what the writer says about them:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. Hebrews 11:13

Would we have deemed their lives a success at the time of their death? I’m not sure, but in the generational story God certainly does. Without each of them, the Kingdom story would be lacking. Thankfully, these people understood that they were a part of that Kingdom story. Their lives weren’t lived for themselves but for God and His big plan.

2 – God measures our lives in obedience

The word obedience, in a Biblical sense, is an interesting one. Today, we link obedience with the idea of doing what you are told, but Biblically the word more accurately means ‘walking a path’. In fact, in Hebrew one of the words used for obedience is translated into ‘way’ or ‘journey’ in the English NIV. This gives us the sense that obeying God is not simply Him instructing us to carry out a list of rules without getting it wrong, but rather walking with Him on the journey that He is calling us to. It’s ensuring that our steps are following the way that He has set out before us.

Obedience is more important to Him than results. God just doesn’t seem as impressed by the result as we do—after all, He’s a God who can do anything at any time using anyone. Results can’t impress Him in that way. Obedience, however, does.

3 – God measures our lives in identity

When we read through the Gospels, we see Jesus meet countless people: rich people, poor people, religious people, irreligious people, sick people, healthy people, and so many more. Some of these people wanted to follow Him, some wanted something from Him, and others wanted to destroy Him. How Jesus interacts with them all is amazing. As far as I can see, throughout the Gospels there isn’t an occasion where Jesus sits down with someone and asks about their activities that day, or how good a Christian they are. There were times when He spoke out about people leading poorly, being stingy, lazy, etc., but the focus of His conversations with people was not their activity but their heart posture.

It would be going too far to say that Jesus didn’t care what they did as long as they had a good heart. No, Jesus did care about that. It’s just that He knew that a heart that was submitted and devoted to Him would and should produce fruit in accordance with its posture. Therefore, it was the heart that mattered more.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

There are so many more things if we had time to think and pray through them all, but I hope these make sense to you. They help me to remember that what I do today is successful as long as I realise the long-term significance, remain obedient, and become who God has called me to be in the process.

Who knows, perhaps I will learn this lesson after all? Perhaps this will be my last ever post about it? 😂