There are voices in your life that try to tell you the direction in which your life should head. Not necessarily in terms of vocation and call, but in terms of visible and tangible markers of success.

Be wary of those voices.

Success is culturally-determined, and in light of the call to “take up your cross”, evaluations that are determined by “up-and-to-the-right” mobility will always be suspect.

It is always a temptation to assume that you will always grow in influence and visibility, but that simply does not have to be the case.

(It is also not necessarily wrong to DESIRE more influence and visibility, but you should always be quick to acknowledge that you have no control over the results of your efforts, nor does success by the world’s standards equate to Kingdom success.)

Because of Jesus’ teaching on the cross (“take it up…”) AND the fact that he models the teaching so completely changes the very nature of what success looks like.

Do not be afraid of “downward mobility” in terms of what the world and the culture expects from you. Simply be faithful to the vocation and inner voice that God has called you to, and trust Him with the “daily bread” and provision that will allow you to live it out.