Darden Christian Fellowship

Reflections from DCF Alum Jim Holmberg

I often fight the temptation to find my identity in my career. It’s a battle we wage as Christians because the world evaluates us based on what we do professionally, our title, what we earn, where we live, even where we send our kids to school.  But all of these things are ill equipped to be the foundation on which we stand.   I’ve been fortunate to learn from the teachings of Tim Keller, who describes these as “good” things, but not “ultimate” things. Work and achievement are worthwhile pursuits, earning money provides for our needs, sheltering and educating our children are all worthy endeavors - but if we make them “ultimate” objectives and live to be defined by them, each will leave us unfulfilled and discontent.  Someone will always have more success professionally, earn more money, have a nicer home, and even have children who outperform our own. If our identity rests in these temporal things, we will run ourselves ragged to achieve them, making many sacrifices along the way, only to realize (often too late) that we are simply not flourishing. 

I’m just running the race twenty years ahead of you (in terms of graduating from Darden) and it has taken me that long to truly realize that our hearts are meant to worship God alone, and only by putting him above all else can the other (many good) things be rightly ordered such that we can both enjoy them in their proper place and flourish as believers. Circumstances change and life only gets more complicated with age, marriage, children, and job responsibilities, but if you can heed this proper ordering of our heart’s object of worship now, the next twenty years will (I think) be much less of a rat race to prove your self worth and more of an opportunity to enjoy the work God has put before you as His beloved child. 

Life isn’t easy as a Christian - God makes no promise to that end - but you also need not be burdened by seeking “ultimate” fulfillment in the very things that are not designed to fulfill the spiritual need we have.  Realistically, you will need to put in time in the early years to learn and demonstrate your ability to handle a large workload, earn money to pay down student loans, etc. - all of which is taxing, especially when our culture is such a career driven one.  Set yourself up to remain spiritually grounded by staying in His Word, finding accountability from other believers, and joining a church community to keep your heart firm in its foundation.  As much as this is a personal challenge to me, share the gospel often - both as a reminder to ourselves of the promise of eternal life that we have in Jesus and also to let people know on what faith you stand personally.  You don’t fit into the world (so don’t pretend to) and go forth with open hands to see what the Lord brings forth when you are firmly planted in the foundation that only He can provide. 

Recently DCF Alum, Jim Holmberg, was in town to offer his reflections on how to balance faith and work. Jim kindly explained his own connection to DCF as a student and provided a short synopsis of his talk, which we share here.