Ambition
Ambition can lead us in either positive or negative directions. The word ambition is derived from a Latin term, ambio, which means to go about or seek out something, and it seems to have its origins in Roman politics: the person seeking an office would walk about, or ambulate, soliciting votes (Webster, 1828). Christians should be ambitious people, but not in the same sense as the politicians of Rome or the worldly people of today. Our ambition should be rooted in an intense desire to please God.
Paul talks of this desire to please God in II Corinthians in a discourse about the temporal versus the eternal. As Christians, we have an expectation of an eternity spent with God; however, in the here and now, we are trapped in the flesh and have all the struggles and burdens of dwelling here, which only leaves us with the longing to be free from the struggles of this world and present in the next one. Paul says, “Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home [here on earth] or absent [in heaven], to be pleasing to Him” (II Cor. 5:9, NASB). Paul makes it clear that Christ “died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (vs. 15). Ambition does not have to be a negative thing, but when it is not focused on being pleasing God, it is of our flesh; if our ambition is fleshly, it cannot please God (Rom. 8:8).
Fleshly or worldly ambition equals slavery. In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul sets an example of freedom beside one of bondage when he relates the stories of Sarah and Hagar. He speaks allegorically, for Sarah represents the new covenant and Hagar the old one. As Christians, we are children of the free woman, Sarah, but so often we want to yoke ourselves to the slavery of worldly ambition. Only when we walk by the Spirit will we abstain from acting on the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). The desires of the flesh won’t go away until we are out of the bonds of the body, but the Spirit enables us to resist the ambitions that are not pleasing to God (Gal. 5:17). May it be our desire to walk about soliciting the favor of the only One who matters.
Paul talks of this desire to please God in II Corinthians in a discourse about the temporal versus the eternal. As Christians, we have an expectation of an eternity spent with God; however, in the here and now, we are trapped in the flesh and have all the struggles and burdens of dwelling here, which only leaves us with the longing to be free from the struggles of this world and present in the next one. Paul says, “Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home [here on earth] or absent [in heaven], to be pleasing to Him” (II Cor. 5:9, NASB). Paul makes it clear that Christ “died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (vs. 15). Ambition does not have to be a negative thing, but when it is not focused on being pleasing God, it is of our flesh; if our ambition is fleshly, it cannot please God (Rom. 8:8).
Fleshly or worldly ambition equals slavery. In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul sets an example of freedom beside one of bondage when he relates the stories of Sarah and Hagar. He speaks allegorically, for Sarah represents the new covenant and Hagar the old one. As Christians, we are children of the free woman, Sarah, but so often we want to yoke ourselves to the slavery of worldly ambition. Only when we walk by the Spirit will we abstain from acting on the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). The desires of the flesh won’t go away until we are out of the bonds of the body, but the Spirit enables us to resist the ambitions that are not pleasing to God (Gal. 5:17). May it be our desire to walk about soliciting the favor of the only One who matters.
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