WSJ.com – You Might as Well Face It: You’re Addicted to Success — Click to read article

One of the interesting things I’m learning from church of all places are the functions/purposes of cities.  There are many functions and one of which is culture producing.  Compared to rural locals, cities are full of people with diverse ideas, methodologies, and personalities that are only bound to produce/improve/create ideas and sharpen people’s skill sets.  Cities add to culture via personal and communal competition – by the very nature of being in a place where there are a ton of people who are smart or great, if not smarter or greater than you.

One of the cultures out there is how career success is used to gain identity.  This is one of the cultures that are propagated on the college campus via teaching system, media, and personal interaction.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for people being successful in what they do, I just think it’s dangerous to let that define who you are.

A good friend of mine sent the article above to me and this was his comment:

This is one of the most depressingly secular articles I’ve read in a while. A more appropriate title would be ‘If Your Idol Has Failed You, Find Another’.

This article suggests that the center of one’s life should not be ‘career success’, but rather moralism and relationships, which are, according to the writer, things “that can’t be stripped away.” But what if we can’t live up to our own moral standards? Or what if our family and friends let us down? What/whom can we cling to then???

Being a psych major, it was hard to sit through class sometimes because the remedies offered to help deal with issues were mainly ‘band-aids’ to heal the problem.   (One of the ways is mentioned in the article).

We are all in a position to help create and shape culture.  The gospel means ‘good news’ .  So how good is it to you?