“But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
-Matthew 6:33
Ambition is like water, too much or too little can be harmful. A slothful and complacent soul will perish because they are lacking. The opposite is true as well, the hard driving and assertive person will become choked with the “cares of this life.” The world will denounce laziness and indifference, and so should the Christian. However, not many would contend that too much ambition is a bad thing. Can we really have too much ambition? Is there harm in wanting to achieve? Is there danger in wanting more?
The book of Psalms is a wonderful portrait of human emotion. It is the heart of David poured out on paper; with prophecy, doctrine, poetry, and exhortation articulated within. David was the second king of Israel behind Saul. The reason Saul was no longer the king was because his heart was haughty, eyes lofty, and he exercised himself in matters/things too high for him. King David saw firsthand the effect of being overly ambitious. When Saul was instructed to kill the Amalekites, the prophet Samuel told him to destroy all the spoils; leave neither man nor beast. Saul decided to keep the best of the flock, saying the people wanted to offer it as a sacrifice to God. He manipulated the commandment of God to suit his own personal desires. He wanted the spoil, the people wanted sacrifice, and there was little consideration given to what God wanted. Saul was seeking his own gain for “his” kingdom and put little thought to the kingdom of God. Saul was the anointed king under God, and he was over the people of Israel, but he spent too much time thinking about how he was over the people, and not enough time considering that he was under God. His ambition lifted his heart beyond his authority; outside of his occupation, and he lost the kingdom (and eventually his life) because of it. David took instruction from this and his ambition was only towards the things of God. The longing to praise him, to worship him, and to fight for him was David’s heart. He loved God more than the praise of men. He loved God more than this world. He loved God and God was the guide of his life. I believe that if God wanted him to stay a shepherd his whole life, he would have stayed a shepherd. He was resigned to the will of God (as much as a sinful man could be). As Holy Ghost filled followers of Jesus, we are called to be dead to the world and alive to God. Which means that any ambition which would take us outside of the will of God is too much ambition. You can want a scholarship, job, property, or possession so much that it carries you to a place where you forget God. You can have ambition to be a pastor, class leader or minister; which would be perfectly acceptable in the eyes of many, but is it in the will of God? Saul loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. This clouded his judgment, and ultimately lead to destruction. We can love ourselves or the praise of others more than we love God and even cloaked in wholesome ambition it is still wrong. Our principle ambition is the kingdom of God. The obtaining of it, the promotion of it, and the glorifying of it. We maintain this course with diligence throughout our life and in this we “live, move, and have our being.” Our principal goal is that of the Christ we follow, to do always the will of the Father.
Granted, the will of the Father may seem unknown to us at times, but when we wait in prayer and faith, he will make it known to us. The goal is not to accomplish our goals, but “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” Let this be our principal ambition.
