During the NHL’s regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning was one of the best teams to ever take the ice. They scored goals at an incredible rate and blew out teams by a margin of three or more goals in 30 of their wins. They had a total of 62 wins – tying for the most in NHL history.
They coasted and dominated throughout the season and had high hopes for the playoffs. However, things changed quickly when the Lightning was swept out of the playoffs in the first round, falling four games to 0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Hockey history and won convincingly by outscoring Tampa Bay 15-5 in games 2-4.
As shocked as everyone has been because of Tampa Bay’s impressive regular season, Lightning Head Coach, Jon Cooper, said this after his team’s loss in Game Four:
“When you have the amount of points we had, it’s a blessing and a curse, in a way. You don’t play any meaningful hockey for a long time. Then all of a sudden, you have to ramp it up. It’s not an excuse. It’s reality.”
ESPN.com writer, Greg Wyshynski, summed up the way Tampa Bay is spinning it by writing, “They were victims of their own success.”
It’s a fair perspective when considering that all of their wins and scoring during the regular season didn’t equate to success when it mattered most.
Unfortunately, this concept of being “victims of our own success” translates to our own lives. When we’re experiencing big wins at work or just dominating in life, it’s easy to get caught up in ourselves. We no longer depend on God when we buy the lies that we don’t need Him and we get complacent because of our success.
We love our money and everything we can acquire because of it. Of course, winning in the regular season doesn’t have to lead to defeat in the playoffs and having success in life doesn’t have to result negatively, but getting trapped and tripped up when we’re rolling right along is definitely a possibility.
The Bible gives us the story of the rich young ruler who asks Jesus about obtaining eternal life and explains how he’s kept all of the commandments and has lived a good life.
Matthew 19:16-22 (AMP) describes, “The young man said to Him, ‘I have kept all these things [from my youth]; what do I still lack?’
“Jesus answered him, ‘If you wish to be perfect [that is, have the spiritual maturity that accompanies godly character with no moral or ethical deficiencies], go and sell what you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me[becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].’
“But when the young man heard this, he left grieving and distressed, for he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God].”
The way I see it, this rich young ruler was a victim of his own success. He couldn’t part with his money and fully surrender his life to Jesus by becoming His follower.
Instead, the rich young ruler allowed his own success to trap him and get caught up in the life he built for himself.
Today, let’s ask ourselves if we are victims of our own success and if something is getting in the way of the victory that really matters.
Let’s not get caught up in our regular season success or cling to worldly treasures, but accept Jesus’ invitation to experience a meaningful and eternal life with Him.
I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for saving me and allowing me to join You one day in heaven. I pray I wouldn’t value anything more than Jesus and I wouldn’t be trapped by worldly success. I desire to live a life of meaning. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
