Dangerous After-Effects of Success

1 Kings 19:4

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

Success has destroyed the mightiest of believers, and that is why we must never let a success achieved be our ultimate goal. Elijah was one of the mightiest prophets in the Word of God, and yet the success of praying fire down from Heaven led to him fleeing in discouragement. It was after Israel's great success at Jericho that they experienced the greatest defeat. It was after a life of success that Hezekiah saw failure. It was after many great victories that David fell into sin. Nobody is immune from the dangerous after-effects of success. There are three dangerous after-effects we must be careful of in our lives after we have achieved a success.

First, we must be careful about discouragement after success. Elijah became greatly discouraged after the great victory he had when he prayed fire down from Heaven. After a great success, it is easy to become discouraged to the point of wanting to quit. A church achieves a big day, and immediately after the big day, the pastor of that church may become discouraged because the attendance may seem low. Satan is sure to punch back after your great success, and that is what you must be careful about.

Second, we must be careful about overconfidence after success. Israel became overconfident in their abilities after the great victory in Jericho, only to suffer a great defeat at Ai. Success has a way of making you believe that you were the cause of success. Always remember that God will share His glory with no man; therefore, we must never become overconfident in our abilities, for it will always lead to defeat.

Third, we must be careful about complacency after success. Israel became complacent after many battles they had achieved. Hezekiah became complacent after a life of victories. Saul became complacent when he got his eyes placed on himself after great victories. Complacency is easy to set in after success because of how easy it is to live in the accolades of victory. Just because you had a victory does not mean that you have achieved ultimate success. When you become complacent with success is when defeat is around the corner.

Now, how do we overcome these dangerous after-effects of success? First, we must never let success be our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal ought to be to please God. If we are to please God, we must continue to march forward by faith. Continuing faith attempts is what will keep us from allowing success to bring defeat to our lives.

Second, never look at how high you have climbed, but always look at how much further you have to go. Too many people look behind instead of looking ahead, and that is why success destroys them. When you see how much further you have to go, you will always realize that one success does not mean you have succeeded.

Third, keep your vision bigger than one success. If your vision is a compilation of several victories, you will never find the success of one victory to cause you to stop. Your vision should always be growing after every victory, and this will keep you driving forward for God and prevent success from destroying you.