Idolizing Success

Hey guys!  My name is CJ Holmes.  I graduated from AU with my undergraduate degree in 2012, and the following year finished my MBA. During my 4 years on campus I was able to serve as an RA in Smith as a sophomore, and on the IM staff my senior year.

       

Smith Hall Staff, 2009-2010

Currently I live in Cleveland, OH and am working in the finance department for Nestle. I am blessed to work for such an established company. My wife and I attend Parkside Church and I volunteer with the youth group once a week as a leader for the 11^th grade guys. I love it! Right now we are reading through a book called Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller (if you’ve never read the book, I strongly recommend it). Each chapter talks about a different idol we can have in our lives, for example, love, money and success. None of theses are bad in and of themselves, but the amount of value we place on each of these can be very harmful and can turn into an idol.

The main ‘idol’ I want to focus on is success.  A lot of the time we are told to strive and aspire to be the best and greatest we can be. For me, working in the finance field, success is getting recognized for hitting all of our financial targets. My team wants to be noticed for the decisions we make and the way we go about making those decisions. We work hard at what we do, and at the end of the day it is nice to be recognized for it.

CJ and his wife, Sarah

Looking outside my financial world, success can be defined as anything, really. Having a good GPA, getting into grad school, having a boyfriend/girlfriend, getting married, buying a house, moving up in a company, having lots of friends, making lots of money, owning nice cars.…just to name a few.  Again, none of these things are bad in and of themselves, but when our first motivation in life is not Christ, the ‘high’ of our successes will not last and we will be left feeling empty and disappointed. We will quickly look for our next goal in life, and eventually, a downward spiral will occur.

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Success should not be judged by what the world defines as success, but rather how the Lord looks at it. If we are following in His footsteps and listening to his gentle whispers, He will never disappoint us or leave us feeling empty. Having Him as our guide and striving to be more like Him should be our ultimate goal and should be the driving force behind our decisions and motivations. 

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Proverbs 1:2-3

CJ Holmes
Smith Hall RA, 2009-2010
IM Staff, 2011-2012