The Dangerous Side Effects of Success

I can fill a couple of shelves in my office with books written by pastors, conference speakers, and leaders who were once trusted voices—men and women whose names carried weight, whose words shaped movements.

Today, many of those books feel like artifacts from another era.

I recently pulled out a conference brochure from an event I attended just a few years ago. Of the featured speakers, nearly half have since suffered public scandal and disgrace.

These are just the stories of the famous. In less public, but equally painful ways, I’ve had friends taste the bitterness that came when success and power corrupted their character and judgment.

Success can be more dangerous than failure.

Failure often humbles us. Success rarely does. Failure exposes our limits. Success hides them.

Some of the scariest verses in all of the Bible (to me) are found in 2 Chronicles 26.  In this extraordinary bit of history, the exploits of a promising young king are chronicled.

Uzziah, son of the benevolent Amaziah, becomes king at a very young age and almost immediately seeks spiritual guidance from the prophet Zechariah.  As a result, he did right in the eyes of the Lord and God made him prosper. (v. 1-5)

Prosper he did.

In war and defense of Judah. (v. 6-7)
In diplomacy, even convincing foreign countries to pay Judah taxes. (v. 8)
In the structural development of Judah. (v. 9)
In agricultural and economic development. (v. 10)
In military strategy and development (v. 11-13)
In engineering and science. (v. 14-16)

In other words, by every metric that mattered in his day—military, economic, political, technological—Uzziah was a spectacular success.

And the text is careful to tell us why: “He was marvelously helped by the Lord.”

Until he was strong and his fame spread far.

Then comes some of the most terrifying words in all of scripture:

“BUT when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.”

The rest of the story is predictable. He no longer remains faithful to the Lord his God.  Instead, he tries to take spiritual and political matters into his own hands. He enters into the Temple to make an incense offering (which he has forbidden to do). The whole scene ends with Uzziah being struck with leprosy, driven from his throne, and left to die, excluded from all he built and loved. Scripture gives him a final, devastating epitaph: “He is a leper”.

Let those words press on you for a bit: “And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, until he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.”

The dangerous side effects of success destroyed Uzziah from the inside out. The scary part? His success blinded him from even knowing that it was happening. When valiant men, full of character stood up against him – instead of pausing to reflect and repent – he was enraged that they had the audacity to challenge him. And just like that, it was over. His strength and his success brought him to his end.  How does this happen? Here are a few ideas:

1) We give ourselves too much credit for things we don’t do on our own. The scripture is clear that Uzziah was helped by the Lord. That it was the Lord who made him strong, famous and successful.

How many times have I (or you) thought to myself, “I’ve hit a triple!” forgetting that I was born on third base. My successes in life: relationally, professionally, spiritually and otherwise are a direct blessing from the Lord AND other people. Who would I be without the sacrifice of my parents and grandparents, the mentors who taught me lessons or the scholarships I received? I get credit all the time for things other people are largely responsible for.

As the sentiment, often attributed to C.S. Lewis goes, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

2) We work hard on our competency, but not on our character. In a culture that rewards success, we’re tempted to do whatever it takes to become successful. We read about how to be a better salesperson or manager.  We research all the diets and exercise plans to achieve the optimum appearance. We get all the tools, gadgets, and clothes that make us look the part. We learn to be persuasive and charming. None of which are evil, but how much time do we devote to growing our character?  How much time to do devote to loving our neighbor or co-worker better? How much evaluation of our faults do we permit?

In Uzziah’s early days, “He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.

How many of us started our marriages, ministries, and jobs by seeking to honor and please God above all else, but slowly drifted to trying to be successful above all else? Success is not a bad thing, but what is our scorecard for success? We might need to re-evaluate what we call a win.

3) We resist correction instead of receiving it. Uzziah refused to listen to Azariah the priest and 80 other priests with the guts to tell a powerful king, “You’re messing up here!”

What are you hearing from your spouse, friend, co-workers, boss or pastor? Do you find 100 reasons to prove why they are wrong and the path you’re on is Okay? When someone points out a flaw in you, is your response to point out 1, 2 or 5 in them?

As Proverbs 15:31 says, “Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise.”

4) We don’t see our blind spots. The problem with our blind spots is that we don’t know they are there. The reason we don’t know they are there, is because we don’t know they are there. Confused? Here is what I mean: There are things about our character, personality, and attitudes that are working against us, but we don’t know about them. The good news is: those around us do! Are we willing to humbly ask wise people to speak into our lives? Are we willing to humbly listen?

Success isn’t a bad thing. It’s a gift. But gifts can become idols when we stop asking where they came from and who they’re meant to serve.

May we be people who receive success with gratitude, carry it with humility, and hold it loosely enough that it never costs us our souls.