LET FAITHFULNESS BE ENOUGH
You didn’t call me to be successful,
You called me to be faithful.
Keep me from the treadmill of performance.
Let faithfulness be enough.
You didn’t call me to be known,
You called me to know You.
Keep me obedient to what I know.
Let faithfulness be enough.
You didn’t call me to have men follow me,
You called me to follow you.
Keep me imitating Your faithfulness.
Let faithfulness be enough.
You didn’t call me to save others,
You called me to be a witness.
Keep me available.
Let faithfulness be enough.
You didn’t call me to receive glory,
You called me to give you glory.
Prove me to be faithful.
Let faithfulness be enough.
“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”
(
© Stephen C. Kilgore 1992
That is cool. What is the back-story with this poem? What was going on in your life in 92 that drove you to such profound words?
There are two sides of the story. In the 1986 I was student chaplain in the oncology department at a hospital in Philadelphia. For six month, twice a week I met a Hispanic man with leukemia. As I shared the gospel over those six month it usually ended like this:
Mr. Lopez “I believe anything the Bible say.”
Me Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Do you believe that all have sinned?
Mr. Lopez “yes”
Me “Do you understand that you have sinned?”
Mr. Lopez “no”
Me “you have never sinned, lied, thought evil thoughts, etc.”
Mr. Lopez “no”
We did this for six months.
A few days after he died, I was reading in 1 John 1
“8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
And thought, “If only I had seen those verses before. If only I had known God’s Word better. If only I . . .”
Jumping ahead to 1992, I was on the staff of a church that was experiencing some struggles. There were four of us on the pastoral staff who would meet weekly to pray. The senior pastor was feeling well, less than appreciated.
As a young pastor I had to determine or reexamine why I was in ministry. What was my motivation? What was it that I wanted to “get out of it?”
As I was contemplated those two events in my journal, I wrote, “Let faithfulness be enough.”
It’s a prayer I have to remember regularly.
Wow, Thanks!!
Have the struggles of today enhanced your prayer “let faithfulness be enough?”
Interesting question.
Since I wrote that poem and now have been in ministry longer, through a whole series of ups and down; times of great heart ache and times of wonderful “victories.”
My prayer is still, “let faithfulness be enough” but to that I add, and “let me be fruitful for you”.
I am responsible for being faithful. Only God can make me fruitful.
But should I only be satisfied with faithfulness or should I long for fruitfulness also?
Here is part of an unfinished poem in which I reflect on this–I’ll post the whole thing sometime.
I must always be dependent
I must always be surrendered
For apart from the One to whom I
must be faithful and for whom I
want to be fruitful
I can do nothing (John 15)
Looking forward to the rest of the poem.
Thanks