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On Success and Staying Hungry

After months of unemployment and on the edge of starting a new role, I found myself in a Wednesday night church service this week when the pastor said something that reoriented me entirely. 
Russell Evans, pastor of Planetshakers Church, said,

“The more successful we get, the hungrier we should be.”

Not hungrier for more achievement.
Not hungrier for recognition, influence, or reach.
Hungrier for God.

There’s a version of success that looks clean on paper and hollow in real life.
The calendar fills. The goals get sharper. The wins get louder.
And somehow—without a dramatic fall or a moral failure—you wake up realizing you’ve misplaced what mattered most.

That’s the drift.
Not away from God in rebellion—but away from God in busyness.

And that distinction matters more than we admit.

The Subtle Battle of Ambition

Ambition isn’t the villain.
Misaligned ambition is.

For those of us wired to build, lead, fix, and carry weight—ambition often disguises itself as responsibility. As faithfulness. As “doing good work.” But unchecked, it starts demanding first place.

“…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19-21

Paul doesn’t pray for capacity—he prays for fullness.
Success expands capacity. Hunger ensures we don’t confuse capacity with sufficiency.

What begins as stewardship quietly becomes striving.
What starts as calling slowly turns into consumption.

The danger isn’t that success crowds God out all at once.
It’s that it convinces us we can afford to come to Him less often.

Margins Are Where Hunger Lives

True hunger doesn’t shout.
It whispers from the margins.

From the quiet before the house wakes up.
From the moments not optimized for output.
From the space where ambition is laid down long enough to remember who we belong to.

The more capable we become, the more intentional we must be about returning to the Source. Because there is always more to do—but there is infinitely more to receive.

“I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you…” Isaiah 41:10

God names Himself as the sustainer, not the supplement.

A Reorientation, Not a Rebuke

This realization wasn’t condemnation for me.
It was invitation.

An invitation to let success become a signal—not a substitute.
A reminder that growth in the world should be matched by hunger in the spirit.
That advancement should lead to deeper awe, not quieter prayer.

If we are going to carry more, we must kneel more.

That’s the margin I’m reclaiming.🤍