I've been thinking a lot about how I, as a Christian, should measure success. What has God actually called me to do? Has he called me to save souls? Has he called me to feed the hungry, provide shelter for the homeless and clothe those who need clothing? Do I measure my success based on the number of people I help get off the streets each month? Am I a failure if no one that I meet falls in love with Jesus and prays a particular prayer?

If that's how I measure success, then I guess I've been quite successful. If I wished, I could quote those stats and impress audiences wherever I go to speak.

But I don't think those numbers do anything to impress Yahweh, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. When I read Scripture as a whole book, when I mine the depths of the Trinity and reflect on the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, when I examine my humanity in light of my Creator, when I consider how dependant I am on the Sovereign Lord for my every breath, when I think of the cross, when I see how broken the world is and how futile my efforts are to put it back together, I can only conclude that my whole purpose and mission in life is simply to worship God.

And if I'm right, and I think I am, this has ramifications on how I view my calling, how I perceive evangelism and how I measure success. If my calling is entirely about being obedient, then my success is measured on my own faithfulness to that calling of obedience. It is therefore not measured in the number of “souls saved,” or the number of people I help in life. Those things are the work of God, not me. He has not called me to be the Saviour. He has not called me to save the world. He has only called me to a life of obedience.

What does this mean to me in practical terms? Well, I believe that my day-to-day activities, actions, behaviours, thoughts, dreams and hopes need to be things that are pleasing to God. In light of this, I find myself trying to unpack the nature of God through his Word so that I can daily attempt to be more pleasing to him. I also try and obey him and the things that I believe he has commanded of me.

Pleasing God
What is the nature of God? First off, God is community. He wants all of his people to be in communion with him. God, three in one, has invited us to participate in his life. The Holy Spirit has gathered us to the Father by revealing the Son, Jesus Christ. Through Christ we have been united with the Father and reconciled so that we are loved by him as though we were his own children.

As I live my life with this assurance, I desire to see other people experience the joy of participating in the life of the Trinity. I want to live as much as I can like Jesus, and as a result bear witness to Christ to others. But it is not my work─nor do I have the ability or authority─to save others. That's the responsibility of the Spirit. So while I may be disobedient to God if I miss an opportunity to bear witness, I take great comfort in knowing with full assurance that no one will spend eternity separated from God as a result of something I botched. My first love is Jesus (at least I strive for this but my idols often get in the way); not saving souls. From my own experience and in observing many others throughout my life, to live with the mindset of saving the maximum number of souls in the minimum amount of time is a life destined to be laden with guilt, burnout, disillusionment and dispute.

Secondly, God is on the side of those who are being oppressed. This is not to say that God loves the oppressed more than anyone else, nor is it to say that he desires any more or less for the rich or the poor to follow him. But it does mean that he responds to oppression by taking the side of those on the receiving end of injustice (see Micah 6:8, Isaiah 58, Matthew 25, James 1:27). So if my mission is to worship God and to do things that are pleasing to him, I therefore need to be about justice on behalf of those who are being marginalized. This is non-negotiable for those who claim to follow Christ. Not so that we can earn more of God's love (remember, he already loves us as much as he loves His own Son and we can't make him love us more), but so that we can do things that please him.

So, let's stop thinking we are called to do work that only God can do. To think that we can save people takes the focus off of God and plants it firmly on us. To think that we can fix the broken world by being about social justice is also to begin acting as though we are God. This becomes a form of idolatry as we begin to rely and depend less on God and more on ourselves.

I pray that we can all become more like Christ and learn to trust and depend on him more each day. This would please him and would be our worship (Romans 12:1-2). I believe this to be the primary mission of all Christians, including Salvationists.

Dion Oxford, along with his wife, Erinn, and daughter, Cate, live in Toronto and are committed to journeying alongside people in the margins of society. Dion and Erinn have spent a combined 30 years working amongst folks who are living on the streets of Toronto. Dion is the director of Gateway, a Salvation Army shelter for men experiencing homelessness. He and his wife see the solution to homelessness as the church taking seriously the two great commandments of loving God and loving our neighbours. He likes to read, write, fly kites, cycle long distances, watch TV, play in his band and hang out with his friends.