Psalm 12 - Success

I had a great conversation with two contemporaries (and friends) today; one is a church planter here in Austin, the other the founder of a non-profit focusing on the fight to help end local poverty. Our conversation somehow made it to a discussion about how as believers we should measure success, and how when measured properly, is often accompanied with a peace that might not typically make sense.

While obviously, we should measure success by the standards in which we think God measures success, our nature is to measure it by the things that typically bring us honor in the minds of our contemporaries. Wanting to be honored among men is an amazingly powerful temptation and thus shape a majority of our lives. Made me think how important it is that we choose wisely those we allow to influence our pursuits. It also made this final thought from Psalm 12 come alive for me today:

“The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.” – Psalm 12:8