the Morning Jog: 'Driven' the wrong way

How have we become a society that looks at the signs of success to be stress and fatigue? It seems like the more you have going on – the more cell phones attached to your hip, the more Facebook friends you have – that proves how successful you are.

While being ‘driven’ can be an asset in some areas of life, becoming consumed with getting ahead can often motivate you to make something of yourself for less than the best of reasons. Instead of enhancing your life, it ends up diminishing what you accomplish.

In our drivenness, we must be careful not to get so caught up in seeking after symbols of accomplishment. Titles, offices, locations, positions, special privileges…and on down the line we could go. Without these symbols of accomplishment, many feel they have nothing to show for what they have done.

I’ve even met those who only feel they have accomplished something if they garner some type of reward. One thing is completed and praise comes your way. We begin to think that if one thing made us feel that good, then accomplishing several more will give us an even greater feeling. This kind of person sees life in terms of results, and they have little appreciation for the process that leads toward those results. For these people, their growth is often sacrificed for accomplishment and accumulation. When you peel back the layers of ‘stuff’, what you have left is an empty shell.

The great Charles Spurgeon said once: “Success exposes a man to the pressures of people and thus tempts him to hold on to these gains by means of fleshly methods and practices, and to let himself be ruled wholly by the dictatorial demands of incessant expansion. Success can go to my head and will unless I remember that it is God who accomplishes the work, that He can continue to do so without my help, and that He will be able to make out with other means whenever He wants to cut me out.”

(Conowingo Dam)
(Street, MD)

We cannot allow success to deter us from the process that Christ has designed for us to go through. There is a reason for the scripture, “to whom much is given, much is required.”

When Christ gives success into our life…we should turn and give more worship.
As He continues to bless us…we should continue to give away more.
As more accomplishments are checked off…we should give just as much time back to the Kingdom.
He can accomplish His plan without any of us; but He desires to give life more abundantly to all who will be ‘driven’ by His purpose.