Whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please [Christ]. 2 Corinthians 5:9.

Ambition, n., a strong desire for fame, success, honour, wealth or other position. Ambition is wanting to achieve something with our life. It isn’t ‘human’ to drift aimlessly through life like plankton.

Ambition, excellence and success are neutral ideas, but, like water, the atom, or the motor-car, can be either helpful or destructive. Jesus was ambitious – to do the will of his Father; the devil was (and is) ambitious to do the opposite.

Modern notions of ambition, excellence, and success are very slippery indeed. They assume you’re ‘more OK’ if you ‘get to the top’ than those not-so-OK who don’t. ‘Ambition’ comes from the Latin ‘ambire’ = to go around (canvassing for votes). It’s what politicians do. It’s the massaging of one’s ego by power or adulation. It’s loving something other than the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. It’s a preoccupation with my destiny rather than the pain of my sister or brother. It’s a desire to surpass others, to have more than they have, to be more than they are – ie. to be more like the devil than Jesus. Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves.

Lord God, may my ambition be to become what you want of me. May all other achievements be viewed in this light. For your glory, Amen.

SELFISH AMBITION

Christ did not please himself. Romans 15:3.

Selfish ambition produces chronic anxiety. So ‘anxiety reduction’ is big business today. Often people with the most talent, money or power have the most anxiety. (That’s one difference
between the poor and the rich: the poor think money will buy happiness; the rich know better).

The overly ambitious use power for their own ends, often unconsciously engaging in ‘power games’ – repeating gossip (‘for your prayers’ of course), withholding information, discouraging others, etc. James 4:1,2 gives the reason jealousy.

Godly ambition, for Paul, meant three things: (1) Pleasing Christ (2 Corinthians 5:9). If you love someone (self, Christ, another) you’ll want to please that one. The ‘American 5-star system’ (success, prestige, money, power, security) is essentially selfpleasing. Christ did not please himself (Romans 15:3). (2) Proclaiming Christ (Romans 15:20). We do that by what we are, what we say, and what we do: these must all be congruent. ‘A Christian is someone who’s met one’. (3) Portraying Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12) – by ‘living quietly and calmly’ (you can’t do that if ambition is self-centred).

Take my life, Lord, and let it be consecrated to your will and your service. Amen.

Related Articles:

• Lovers Of Pleasure More Than Lovers Of God
• My God Turns My Darkness Into Light
• God Will Redeem My Life From The Grave
• Blessed Are Those Whose Strength Is In You
• My Times Are In Your Hands

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