In God’s kingdom, success is not measured by results alone. In Luke 10, Jesus commissioned seventy disciples into the evangelistic field. They were to preach God’s Kingdom as well as heal the sick. They came back and seemed to have outperformed their expectation as we can see in verse 17 – “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” When we examine their commissioning, we do not see any specific instruction given to them to cast out demons. The victory over demons is not difficult to explain. In some cases, sicknesses have demonic roots. So the command to heal sickness is already a liberty to deal with its demonic source. On another note, the power given to them to heal the sick is the supreme power of God; it can solve every other problem along its path.

To gain the whole world and lose one’s soul is no success at all. True success is being in harmony with God and dwelling with Him eternally.

The disciples were excited about the results that they obtained in the field, but Jesus reoriented them. Their joy was not to stem from the results they obtained, but from the fact that their names were written in the Lamb’s book of life. The inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven is what counts. There is no result that we post here on earth that is as important as having our names in the Lamb’s book of life. To gain the whole world and lose one’s soul is no success at all. True success is being in harmony with God and dwelling with Him eternally.