I love the feeling of accomplishment you receive when you have done something well. For instance, yesterday, my four year old son and I took about 20 minutes and cleaned up a playroom that might have qualified as a national disaster zone. We put toys in the correct bins and unrecognizable specimens were quickly placed in the trash. But after we were through we had to step back, admire our work and then give each other a well-deserved high-five. It feels good to accomplish a task that is easily measured. But sometimes the hard part in life is to be faithful in the things that aren’t immediately measurable.

Maybe I should define this a little more. You see, not everything we do in life is measured in immediate quantifiable forms. What was my attitude like when I greeted my spouse for the first time today? How Christ-like was the tone of my voice as I sought to ‘gently’ instruct my son throughout the day? Was that the reaction I should have had when I was cut-off on the interstate today? The hard part is that there really isn’t a measure for these things and we really never know the impact that they will have on eternity. I always reach way back on these immeasurable things for my motivation. In Genesis 4:7, God says to Cain, ‘If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’ The scary part is, that sin takes over in the immeasurable things. Not many of us are going to suddenly become murderers or thieves overnight (at least I hope not). But sometimes our attitude might be less than Christ-like…sometimes our speech might be more harsh than necessary…sometimes we might lose self-control in tense situations…

We are only human, but with the Holy Spirit as our guide, maybe we can learn to be faithful in that which is immeasurable. And maybe one day, in the eyes of the kingdom, we will see how truly great the measure of these things turned out to be.