Everybody is in a natural pursuit of success and never failure in life.

But what exactly is success? And how do we measure it?

These are personal and fundamental questions that each of us need to constantly discover and define in any phase of our life.

Building a foundation for success

Our world mainly defines success by measuring it in terms of power, position, recognition, material possessions and wealth.

And most of us (consciously or unconsciously) make this our life-long mission to attain all of these. However, in that pursuit, one key aspect of success is grossly overlooked- Character.

As much as  these (power, position, recognition, material possessions and wealth) are important, one should never neglect the development of one’s character.

Character should measure up as equally if not more important then all the rest. In my opinion, character serves as the foundational pillar that holds everything else together in one’s life.

Try not to become a person of success, but rather a person of value.

Albert Einstein

When we have character, we become a person of value and influence; not just with our ability, but with our reliability.

In other words, having character not only attracts success towards us, but also sustains success in our lives.

Measuring character

If character is that much important, why are most of us not actively analysing and developing it in the same manner we do with our wealth, material possessions and etc…?

In my opinion, one of the main reasons is because character is neither quantifiable nor it is easily measured like how wealth, position or material possessions are.

For what we cannot measure, we cannot manage. And what we cannot manage, we cannot develop or grow.

Moreover, there is no recognised standard of measurement for good character for us to measure up against.

For instance, it may be easy to measure wealth or position against others around us like Warren Buffett or Barrack Obama.

But not so for character, where is a standard or example of a good character that all of us can measure up to without any dispute?

The standard of success

Personally, I discovered that standard of good character in the person named Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God.

I also think He is the best existing standard cos He is morally perfect and widely known. But of cos, I’m aware that not everyone is willing to readily acknowledge or accept Him as that standard.

Nonetheless, I look to Him as my standard of good character.

With Him, I am able to measure my character against His. This I do by reading the Bible as illustrated in the scripture below:

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this will be blessed in what he does.”

James 1:23-25

Make no mistake that success is incomplete and never lasting without being backed by a character that is strong and good.

The Bible with its principalities and statutes serves as a credible mirror to reflect and measure our level of character. In this way, we are able to identity and manage areas of our character that requires development.

For this reason, if we do not read and study the Bible regularly, its probably time for us to do so.

And if we have not been upclose and personal with Jesus enough to be convinced if He is of a good character worthy to follow, then we should do so.

For with Him and in Him, the door of true success opens to us.