‘You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.’ 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12(NLT)
I felt certain we’d failed, and I feared when similar challenges came, we would do so again. As my fear of failure grew, I became increasingly reluctant to obey and embrace God-orchestrated risks. I focused more on what had occurred, and my perception of it, than God’s good and hope-filled plans ahead.
We’d opened our home to a hurting teen, hoping to bring healing and point her to Jesus. We’d prayed for her, talked with her, and often shared truth. She seemed to listen and grab hold of the life Christ offered. But it’d been a ruse.
She’d simply told us what she thought we wanted to hear. She’d been lying to us the entire time. When we thought she was staying after school for tutoring, she was actually sneaking off to do drugs with friends. She brought hard liquor into our home, hidden deep in her backpack, and engaged in shameful activities on social media—all without us knowing. Until one night a friend of hers “ratted her out.”
We realized this young lady’s problems went much deeper than we’d thought. She was battling an alcohol addiction and perhaps mental illness. The next morning, I urged her to get help and promised to walk beside her. With a steely look in her eye, she refused. She told me she didn’t want to change, didn’t want to give up drinking, and could care less what I, or anyone, thought.
As I mentioned, when I initially evaluated the situation, I concluded that we’d failed. But then God reminded me that He doesn’t measure success and failure like you or I might be tempted to. In His eyes, the moment we take that first step of obedience, we’ve succeeded, regardless how things turn out. We’re to love others and boldly proclaim His truth, and when we do that, we can call it a win. I’ll likely always view my experience with that young lady with sorrow and regret, but today’s Bible passage helps me rest in knowing I boldly and lovingly spoke truth.
Though Paul, the ancient evangelist who authored today’s verse, saw eternal fruit from his preaching, even if he hadn’t, I’m certain God would’ve called his actions a success, because he’d been obedient. That’s all God asked of him, and that’s all He asks of us. When we remember that, risking failure won’t feel so frightening.
~Jennifer Slattery
from Faith Over Fear