The Price Of Success

J. B. Phillips began translating the New Testament Epistles to encourage his bomb-threatened London congregation. From this humble beginning, and with C. S. Lewis's enthusiastic support, a dynamic and prodigious writing career was launched. Radio broadcasting established his reputation as a natural communicator and requests for him to lecture snowballed. Success was heady, but the price of was almost too much to pay.

"I was in a state of excitement throughout the whole of 1955. My work hardly seemed arduous for it was intrinsically exciting. I was tasting the sweets of success to an almost unimaginable degree. My health was excellent; my future prospects were rosier than my wildest dreams could ever suggest; applause, honor, and appreciation met me wherever I went. . . . I was not aware of the dangers of success. The subtle corrosion of character, the unconscious changing of values, and the secret monstrous growth of a vastly inflated idea of myself seeped slowly into me. Vaguely, I was aware of this, and like some frightful parody of St. Augustine, I prayed, 'Lord, make me humble--but not yet.'"