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Recently I finished reading “Lead” by Paul David Tripp. One of the things I love about his writing is that’s its always based on the Gospel and challenges my heart. But this book was especially used by the Lord to convict me.

There are many convicting lessons in this book but here is the most powerful for me….

Ministry cannot be your identity.

The book is actually a follow up to his equally amazing (and convicting) book “Dangerous Calling“. It asks the question “why do many pastors and leaders in churches fail?” Paul does a good job of explaining one of the answers is our leadership isn’t based upon the Gospel. Instead it’s based on a drive for success.

Far too often Christian leaders make success an idol.

As he explains it

“Here’s the scary reality. In ministry, the way you pursue your idols is by doing ministry.”

Instead of the goal being faithfulness to God, and building the church, it becomes being successful. The more successful the ministry is, the happier you are. But the less successful the ministry is, the less successful you become.

Of course, the problem with this is we are defining success instead of God doing it.

The real problem with making ministry an idol is we think we are incredibly successful, when in the eyes of God we aren’t!

I like to evaluate the day every evening as a way of making plans, or setting goals for tomorrow. This is a good habit, but can easily become sinful If I define a “successful day” in my own wisdom.

When asking myself if a day is successful here are some the questions I often ask myself.

1. How many hours of ministry did I have today?
2. How many times did I share the Gospel?
3. Did I get everything on the To-Do list accomplished?
4. And were my ministries successful (did they minister to people)?

These questions aren’t bad….

but if they become my goal, they are an idol.

It is possible to have eight hours of solid ministry, and accomplishing every task on my list, while my heart is far from God.

It is possible to proclaim the Gospel to many while not living it out in my own life, since my constant desire is to work harder.

It is possible to be extremely busy but spend almost no time with the Lord.

I’m thankful for this not so gentle reminder from Paul David Tripp that success is defined not by how much we accomplish, but how close we are to Christ.