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Temptations of Success (1 of 5)
Our spiritual enemy will attack us with different tactics at different times. From my observation, people seem especially vulnerable during times of failure and success. This week we’ll discuss a few of the temptations of success.
When God is blessing your ministry, it is tempting to think you are above the rules.
A successful minister may never verbally acknowledge or consciously admit to this temptation, but history proves this to be true.
The successful pastor might think:
- They don’t understand what I’m going through…
- This is my one little escape…
- This helps me to disconnect…
- I can’t be perfect…
- God is still using me anyway…
- It doesn’t matter as long as I don’t get caught…
- No one knows about this anyway…
No matter how successful you become, the rules still apply to you.
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SO True…Great Post Craig! Minister or not…we all wake up EVERY DAY with morning breath…and we ALL need to brush our teeth more than once every day to keep clean. Translation…We ALL STINK! God is the toothpaste and the bible is the brush…washing in the WORD is the only way to stay clean
(random thought) Isn’t it sad to think that most people spend more time brushing their teeth and chewing gum than they do communicating with God on a DAILY basis? Wow!
It is scary how much a degree and/or title makes us think the rules don’t apply to us. I am still working on my degree and I can already see the entitlement beginning. Maybe they should have a class in seminary on breaking you down to nothing. Would it help?! Who knows.
They might think that God’s Grace will forgive anyway. Good reminder for me Craig.
BTW: I worshiped with the Internet Campus on Saturday night. Powerful service. It really spoke to me. Thanks.
Kevin, Glad to hear you joined us on the Internet Campus.
LaMo, I actually did have one day of a class in seminary where they showed us a video of how pastors slip into sin. It was very effective. A whole class might be a great idea.
Jenn, You reminded me… I need to floss!
I’m beginning to think that God won’t let my success be totally understood on Earth because He is saving it for Heaven. He’s saving the ultimate, utopian moment of success for the two of us…when I’ll be bowing & wailing before Him and He gets to say, “Well done.”
C,
Welcome back! Could it be “success” could be denied for the very same excuses you use? God knows what will happen to us if we do “succeed” and chooses to protect us from ourselves? And could it be “success” is denied because we are already using this type of logic? Would like to hear what you or others think.
the thought that comes to mind in reading this is where our eyes are focused…all of those excuses, saving the last, have i, me, or my in them…it is so easy to take our eyes off of Christ and place them on ourselves…to start seeking to meet our “needs” rather than allow God to do so…and then giving in to temptation…
Great stuff!!!
Bill, very insightful comment. Many times, we are the limiting factor in God’s blessings. And maybe that’s also why God doesn’t measure success the way we do.
Great post, Craig. The “God is still using me…” one gets me the most. But I’ve seen it in my life and the lives of others too… when “God is still using me” goes on too long, God tends to stop using me.
Are you sure the rules apply to me?
I recently used the “God is Still Using Me” line to justify to myself something that I wanted to keep doing, even though I knew it was wrong.
Good post.
Donny, I think you are right… The “God is still using me” can be tricky. I watched a good friend go down in flames saying that over and over again.
Patrick, Good insight.
Dan, God probably does have some very different measurements of success than we do.
Jon, Thanks for your thoughts.
Bill, Thanks. Sad to be home from vacation but excited to be back at it.
Heather, Who knows how we’ll respond to that moment? I pray we all experience it!
The more success God brings, the more closely “others” watch how the rules are followed/broken by the pastor/leader.
Transparency should not decrease based on an increase in the level of significance with a person or ministry.
It’s difficult to remain humble if you don’t have someone pouring into you.
Great Insight Craig!
I Timothy 1:19
Reminds me of David on the “in between” battles, when he decided to take a “day off” from being a warrior…
2nd Samuel 1
That’s when Bathsheba just “happened” to be there…when David was at the top of “his game”…
The devil knows that success is often one of the open doors for temptation…
We have to remember it is war every day… and keep our focus, the devil certainly won’t lose his focus…
God will always give us enough grace so long as we trust Him, and not ourselves…(either our ability to fail or to succeed)
The minute we forget we stand by grace, and walk by grace, then were waiting to be devoured…(even though we may not know it)
Well said Craig. This is always a timely reminder, especially for those of us in visible public ministry. Thanks for the post, I’m definitely looking forward to the next 4 in the series.
Jason, Great points! Thanks!
People of Thunder, That is such a good example. I was reading this morning about how God gave David success in his battles. It really struck me… God gave success. It is way to easy to think we have a bigger part than we really do.
Joseph, Thanks! Glad the post is helpful. Blessings.
Re. “God Is Still Using Me” excuse: Just got through watching the DVD documentary on Lonnie Frisbee, the alpha person in the Calvary Chapel story from the ’60s and ’70s; who was also instrumental in the early days of the Vineyard movement. This is a must-see for anyone who either is or knows someone who is living a double life. Though we don’t understand it, God does use people despite their sin. But after enough time has passed…
Craig - I thought I would leave you two quotes regarding “Pastors and Leaders” from two men I hold very dear on this matter and aboth had a good deal of experience on this matter. Take these to heart and let their words soak in deep……
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
–1 Peter 5:2,3
“I believe that it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The Church of the Firstborn is no place for the demagogue or the petty religious dictator. The true leader will have no wish to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether as ready to follow as to lead when the Spirit makes it plain to him that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.
It is undoubtedly true, as I have said so often, that the church is languishing not for leaders but for the right kind of leaders; for the wrong kind is worse than none at all. Better to stand still than to follow a blind man over a precipice. History will show that the
church has prospered most when blessed with strong leaders and suffered the greatest decline when her leaders were weak and time serving. The sheep rarely go much farther than the Shepherd”. A. W. Tozer, “The Warfare of the Spirit”, pp. 191,192.
The late C.M. Ward referred to this as a minister’s “God Complex”.
I think that all minister’s deal with those thoughts - but our success, if we are having it, hides it more.
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