All men want to be successful in what they do. That's normal and healthy. However, many men get carried away and end up catching "success sickness." Success sickness is the disease of always wanting more, but never being happy when you get it. It is that intangible pain that comes from not achieving goals that should never have been set or achieving them only to find out it didn't matter. Regrettably, many men don't learn this lesson until they've given it twenty or more years--often the best years of their lives. What a strategic opportunity to pastor men about success sickness and success that matters.

Biblically speaking, three things keep men from getting what they want: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. In practice, lies and idols infect many men with "success sickness." The unhappy result of believing that "success will make you happy" lie is that many men today are struggling with problems that success can't solve. No wonder so many men feel what Søren Kierkegaard called "the sickness unto death."

The passion that fuels can also consume. In the chase to "be somebody" a lot of men end up struggling with problems that success can't solve. Problems like a wife who feels emotionally neglected or kids who have to guess at normal behavior because their dads are not around enough to mentor them. In short, these men are off balance.

You should assume that most Christian men want to do the right thing. Christian guys don't get up in the morning planning to fail. No man wakes up and says to himself, "I wonder what I can do today to irritate my wife and neglect my kids." But it happens.