True Success in 2015

I love Januarys. They are, to me, the chance to start fresh and to learn from the mistakes and misses of the year before, to capitalize on achievements, and to set my sights on where I want to be the next time January rolls around. I’ll set goals for the year, fully committed to new levels of excellence and discipline to reach them, and go. I hold myself to these, proud to be a doer, wanting to be a faithful steward, and wanting to create successes. Peter Greer is a man wired similarly to myself. In his book, “The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good”, he conveys Biblical insights on success that a list of goals might not include. He shares that, “…Jesus defined success as loving the Lord your God and loving your neighbor,” and encourages us to redefine success accordingly.

Recalling a truth of his own life, he states, “…we need a strong foundation and a fanatical obsession with operation excellence, but most of all we need to continually have a spirit of humble dependence on God.”

It’s a truth that I need to tangibly realize both in my everyday and in my aspirations for a new year.

What are my goals for 2015 in light of a true definition of success?

How can these goals work to reinforce a “humble dependence on God”?

Is my greatest goal to love God and my neighbors?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

-Ally