“Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me.”

I am writing this before the Oscars are presented.  You will be reading this the morning after.  I don’t know who will win, but there is a pretty good chance that there will be plenty of lifting up above the head the little gold statue of Oscar. Some will actually kiss Oscar. Others will talk directly to it as they thank those who helped them get to the podium.  And yes, there will be those who thank God for helping them get to this point in their career.  It is not ours to judge so I always take that thank you to God as sincere, otherwise, why would they do so?  But, like in all of our work and the rewards that we can achieve we need to be sure that we understand what the “idol” is that we are pursuing.  “Businessperson of the Year” isn’t given out, but we each are striving to achieve this.  Our companies love to be on the most admired, best places to work, fastest growing, best quality, etc. lists.  In a way we are all striving and working towards our moment of recognition.  What we must remember in our business is from whom it is we are hoping to accept the award!  Let’s be sure that we are seeking the recognition from our customers and employees, not just our shareholders, our Boards or ourselves.  The latter might feel good for the moment, but it’s the other constituents that we want to really please.

God told us to make sure that we never create any idols on this earth that we put in competition with Him. We have to be really careful here because they may not, and usually are not, made of gold or silver in the form of an idol, but they are gold and silver that comes in many forms and likenesses.  Money, fame, recognition, and power are all by-products of being good at our jobs and work.  Each of these can turn sour though as we know.  Greed, pride, selfishness, etc. can be the outcome of what originally felt innocent to begin.  There is nothing wrong in the pursuit of excellence, accomplishment or quality. But, when these get away from us and become the end game and we lose what our true focus should be, then we are running afoul of what God’s purpose for us is to be. Let’s use this day to remind ourselves of perspective and what it is that we are really trying to achieve.

Reference: Exodus 20:23 (New Living Translation)