success: in whose eyes?

Success: (2.) the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. (dictionary.com)

There are multiple definitions of success, and I'm sure we could come up with ones similar, but this one names a particular version of success that is easy to see in American culture: "making it". But it isn't uncommon for me to tilt my head, squint my eyes, give a "hmmmmm" and wonder, "I'm not sure about this 'success' thing."

In particular, I'm not sure about success and how we measure in the Church; Jesus is to where our eyes tilt upwards. What do you think was counted as success in the Kingdom he was bringing? How did his life measure as successful?

And what about the Church? It isn't uncommon to see us measuring success in just these terms - wealth (is our "giving" good enough this year?), position (who has the most titles - Dr., Reverend, etc.; what is our position in the community?), honors (I live in a city where there is a "best place of worship" vote in a local publication).

The following article is a beautiful story of a life - a father - whose son, among many others, has been deeply shaped by a man who, in fact, turned down numerous opportunities to make himself more successful, but often took the "lower road" (which ended up being what many of us as followers of Jesus recognize as a truer success).

Click here to read this story, posted on RabbitRoom.com.