What About Your Ambitions?
You have ambitions. You have had them all of your life. You have places you want to go and people you want to meet. You have a bucket list of things to do before you die. You have goals you want to achieve.
There’s nothing wrong with any of that.
Except.
Except that our ambitions that we think are so big and great, may actually be too small. We may not be reaching high enough.
Francis Xavier said this: “Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the Gospel.”
C.S. Lewis compared our ambitions to playing in the mud. We muck around thinking about sex and food and such, when God is offering us so much more.
Now, don’t think I’m suggesting for all of us to stop what we’re doing, quit our jobs and go to seminary or Africa.
Just stop for a minute and consider.
You don’t have your dream job. You have the ambition of creating a blog, building an audience, writing a book and quitting your day job. OK. But what if that ambition is too small. What if God has you where you are for a strategic reason that only He is aware of? Maybe your ambition of quitting is too small. Maybe the big ambition that God has for you is to remain where you are to make a difference.
Maybe you are a mid-level manager in corporate America. Maybe God has you right where He wants you to fund the mission He wants you to pursue.
Maybe it is time to move on to something else.
John Piper was a small college Bible professor. He got a picture of a God who would not simply be analyzed. He knew he had to proclaim this God to others. He became a pastor of a dying church. He became proclaiming this Living God in a way that they had never heard. The church, in turn, began to live. He’s pastored that church for thirty years. Now he is about to turn the reins of this church over to someone else. He has an ambition of writing more and speaking more and teaching more. He has no small ambition. He feels God pulling him in this direction.
The point of all of this is this: we must view our ambitions through the lens of the Gospel and the Kingdom. Our ambitions cannot rule us. Instead, they must be ruled by our relationship with Christ.
What ambitions is He giving you?
This is something for me to think about more. I have seen in my own life that as I keep pushing toward God and His purpose in my life my ambitions get bigger and bigger.
I never knew I would be writing a blog and would have future plans to write books, workbooks, and coach others 3 years ago. But God has really placed it in my heart to use my gifts and passions to add value to others.
I think it’s different for everyone. I have a friend who is at a higher level at work than me. His “ambition” is to get hos house paid off so that he will have the ability to take a lower paying job where he feels he can glorify God more. The key is making sure your ambition lines up with what God is calling you to do.
Such an important key to remember.
I agree with you, Larry! God has BIG plans for us. He is faithful to lead us into all that as we walk in step with His Spirit.
Thanks for this. I constantly need reminders to snap me out of the day-to-day grind and remind me that there’s a higher purpose for all of it.
Ricky, no one needs more reminding than me.
That old saying “the good is the enemy of the great” came to mind. Good stuff, Larry.
Exactly, Ken!!!