In “Staying Faithful: Reflections on an Academic Journey”, Howard Louthan explains the importance of faith in relation to one’s academic career. Specifically, Louthan discusses the obstacles he’s come across, along with different experiences, in his academic career and how the purpose of life is not to be successful, but to be faithful. As Louthan himself puts it, “Faithfulness comes first. All else follows.” Although most people believe the purpose of life is to work hard, overcome obstacles, succeed in your studies, and change the world, Louthan argues that we do not need to be perfect, but rather we must recognize that God is calling us to be in a position of spiritual dependency and acknowledge our inadequacies, limitations and failures. …show more content…
In my view, today’s society orbits around materialistic ideals in which people use to define their succession. For instance, people often define success by achievement, meaning if they don’t achieve x, y, and z they failed in life and aren’t worth anything. In addition, people see success as a competition. This idea leads people to define their success by other people’s success. For example, if one has more of something or more expensive things than someone else, they are seen as more successful. Society pressures people into believing that climbing up the social and economic ladder is the only way to succeed. The higher one is on the ladder, the more successful they are. Some might object, of course, on the grounds that there is nothing wrong with taking pride in their achievements and viewing them as a form of success. Though I concede that being proud of one’s hard-earned accomplishments is not a negative thing, I argue that defining one’s success strictly on the basis of materialistic items is naive. I believe that nothing is possible without the hand of God, as presented by Louthan, and therefore maintaining a strong faith throughout the accomplishments and failures of life is the most successful thing a person can do-an important point to make considering people often blame their failures on God not being there for them, but claim their achievements to be solely the work of