Success in Man's Eyes or Faithfulness in God's

Last night the students and staff I work with had an appreciation party for me. I was completely clueless which made it all the more fun. I was very honored and encouraged by their sweet thoughtfulness and I greatly enjoyed taking home all their notes and reading them. It was encouraging to learn from the notes what God is doing in lives even when I am unaware. As I read the notes a thought came to mind. I thought about how I could read those notes, listen to comments, and be encouraged that I was living faithfully or doing a good job and still be a failure. All the praise could just be affirmation that I am doing a good job of acting the part and of striving to make myself look good. It is so easy to live for praise and to have my thoughts consumed with how to impress others. I think God is at work in this program changing lives and I strive to be faithful with my time and opportunities but last night was a good reminder to me of what true success is, faithfulness before God and not admiration of men. Success is measured in man's eyes and faithfulness in the Lord's. I liked the following quote I heard recently:

"God does not say at the end of a believer's life, 'Well done successful servant.' He says, 'Well done good and faithful servant.' We are called to be faithful."