Pride is a natural byproduct of success. But if you don’t actively deal with it, pride will kill your spiritual life, and it’ll get in the way of your ministry’s success.

I’ve experienced a phenomenon in my own ministry where I’m unable to sustain consistent success. I’ve seen a repeated yo-yo effect where I see success and then I see setbacks. For a long time, I thought this was due to ongoing self-sabotaging behavior, which was certainly true for me in the past.

Somewhere deep inside, I didn’t believe that I deserved success, so I would get in my own way. Not healthy, but I’ve been working on that. But lately, I’ve come to realize that this yo-yo effect is a normal human cycle. Success tends to come in waves, but I think there’s something deeper going on. And I now understand that pride is a natural byproduct of success.

When I don’t actively deal with pride, it becomes a barrier to further success. You know, Proverbs 16, 18, pride goes before destruction and a haughtiness before a fall. This is describing a psychological principle that when I allow pride to build up, that pride becomes a barrier to success. Think of it this way. Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of living. You breathe in oxygen, which your body uses to sustain life.

A byproduct of this cellular process is carbon dioxide, which is a poison. If you don’t get rid of it, it will kill you. So you breathe in oxygen and you breathe out this poisonous carbon dioxide. Lately, I’ve been imagining something similar in my spiritual life.

I want to breathe in the Spirit. I’ve seen God do some crazy things through me when I allow His Spirit to move through me. I’ve had moments where I’m almost a bystander watching with amazement thinking, who is this guy? The more I allow the Spirit to control me, the bigger my outward success. And yet the bigger the success, the more likely I am to take credit for it myself.

The people around me don’t see the Spirit, they see me and they’re going to give me credit for what God has done. So if I don’t actively fight against it, that pride will build up, which will inevitably lead to a crash, and thus the yo-yo effect cycling between spiritual success and failure. So I’ve been working on breathing in the Spirit and breathing out my pride.

In the morning, I pray for God’s power in my life, asking him to get me out of the way. At night, I praise him for the grace that he gave, and I give him back whatever success that I experienced that day.

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Pastor, thank you for the work you do. Remember, receiving affirmation is not the same as being prideful, especially when that affirmation is mixed with criticism as it often is. God is doing work in your church and your own heart. And when success comes, we’ll praise Him together.

I love you guys. I’m cheering for you. We’ll see you next time.