Godly Ambition

The problem with worldly ambition is that it is misdirected. God is great; we are sinful. God is infinite; we are finite. God is the only sovereign authority that is; we are impotent – so impotent that we are not able to postpone our own demise for a single hour (Matthew 6:27). This leaves us finite beings with only one reasonable task: to be ambitious for the glory and promotion of the infinite One.

Here is where good and acceptable ambition finds its target. Taking mountains, conquering challenges, and putting down the opposition is understandable only when the goal is to promote the glory and agenda of the one true God. When people, dependent on their eternal Creator for the very breath they breathe, ambitiously set their sights on accomplishments that would promote themselves, their pleasure and their own satisfaction, they foolishly forget their rightful position in the cosmos.

Ambition is good, expected and godly. Frankly, the Church doesn’t have enough of it. But God’s people must always be careful that their ambition is unmistakably aimed at the glory of God.