Craig Groschel has a quote that says, “What gets rewarded gets repeated.”
I think about that a lot in terms of my life and the church. Often times I spend loads of energy and resources on the things that I want vs the things that God wants. Let me give you an example; my podcast. I do extensive research on who is listening, how they are listening, and how many people are tuned in every sing week.
Do you think God cares how many people are listening? I don’t. I think He cares that I am moving people closer to Him, and the Gospel is being proclaimed.
The same thing happens in churches I visit. We are measuring the things of the faith that are more abstract than mission-centered. Yes, the budget matters, but where does measuring the budget compared to how many people are in a disciple-making relationship?
I don’t say all this to make anyone feel bad, I bring it up because what we talk about is what we’ll do, and what we focus on will be the lead metric for what we end up with.
This is true in church, in work, and in your own personal life.
If you are tracking your bank account closer than you are tracking the time you spent with the Lord, you’ll know exactly where your heart will be.
There is a huge different between the outputs we measure and the outcomes we are seeing.