When faced with the choice between failure and success, I’d take success every time. You would too. It’s way more fun to win than to lose. But what if I told you that your past and current success may be the very thing holding you back from future success?
Success Tempts Us to Settle
Success tempts us to settle instead of spread. We cling to the success that we have achieved with both hands and fail to grasp new opportunities.
Success Makes You Conservative
The greatest enemy of your future success is your current success. Current success turns into past success, and the past has a nostalgia that the future never will.
Success Can Hide Motive
It’s easy to hide our motivation and heart in the apparent external success of the churches we’re building. I’m not saying every church leader has poor motives, far from it! But it’s easy to ignore motive when you’re experiencing success.
Success Creates an Avoidance of Risk
Success can keep us from taking risk. It’s easy to trust God and take big risk when you don’t have much to trust to God. But when you’ve found success and there is perceivably more on the line it’s not as easy.
Success Brings Resources
Too many resources can be an innovation killer. A lack of resources teaches resourcefulness and tenacity. God can guide by what He withholds just as easily as by what He gives.
Success Keeps You From Innovation
If you haven’t failed in a while, you’re probably playing it too safe and too small.
Is There Success Without Succession?
Is what started with you going to end with you? You’ve got to move from “it can’t happen without you,” to “it happens with you,” to “it grows without you.”
This article originally appeared here.
