What Is The Measure Of Your Success?

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life, left a beautiful comment on Twitter yesterday:

You measure success by how much others benefit from your work, not by how much you benefit. Selfishness isn’t success.

Man, did I need that reminder.

I’ve decried more than a few times the fundamental snobbery that permeates far too many sections of the conservative blogosphere. Busy is busy, and everyone including me understands that sometimes “I’ll get back to you later” is the only possible immediate response. But when your e-mails and tweets and what have you are routinely ignored, that’s not busy. That’s plain being rude.

If someone who is no better than you acts like you’re beneath their station, what are you supposed to do? Quoting myself from earlier this month:

An example is someone who repeatedly ignores requests made by someone else to be acknowledged as being on the same planet, let alone be engaged in conversation or action, until the one trying to get the first person’s attention barks out of frustration. The first person will respond to this… by criticizing the other person’s rudeness.

Bit of a no-win situation there.

It is frustrating when you know you have something to say, but because you’re not one of the Kool Kidz your voice is ignored. You have to shake it off and keep pressing forward. Keep Pastor Warren’s thought in mind. If you do what you do in order to reach others with something of value as opposed to doing it in name “for the cause” but in fact for the egostroke, you’re never going to be that popular. Why? Your example shames those who act on their own behalf while paying lip service to the notion of promoting something other than themselves.

Also, beware those who preach to the choir while accepting a generous love offering from the congregation. These people are not here to help you, recognize you, or so much as acknowledge you. In fact, they will angrily eject you from the building should you request permission to speak because you have something to say. They do not want to share the spotlight. No amount of worthiness on your part is going to change that, so you’d better get used to it.

So, rather than focus on the negatives pursue the positives. Consider the people you’ve reached; the lives you touched. Is not each of them far more valuable than a turn in the politics spotlight? Certainly politics are important and have their place. However, most any fool can — and these days does — preach politics. Preach Christ first and foremost. Political persuasion counts. But nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to the life-changing power of a heart given over to Jesus.

Ten thousand hits a day on your blog are nice. But ten lives influenced by living for and speaking about Him? Way better.

Way, way better.

P.S. You didn’t think I could let a post title take from a Steve Taylor song go by without the song, did you?

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