Ambition

Ambition: "A strong desire to do or to achieve 

something, typically requiring determination and 

hard work."

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Ambition!  We can see it in others, that drive to achieve, to be someone, to reach 'the top'. "Big results demand big ambitions!" 

Ambition for you might be the goal to leave 'your mark', to change the world, to make a difference, to become president, to be somebody.

Whatever drives ambition it starts with one thing- a goal.  When you see an ambitious person you are looking at someone who has in their minds  an idea of what they want to be, who they want to emulate, what they want to achieve and it drives everything they do.

Ambition can easily wound others because achieving the goal is worth any price.  Ambition and the dream we are chasing can become a god in our lives. It easily becomes all consuming, most important and worth any price to achieve.  

Could it be we need to reevaluate what drives our ambition?  Are we striving for the right goal, the most important identity, the most important things?

Often I think of a line from C.S. Lewis' book, "The Screwtape Letters" in which Screwtape describes a man who just arrived in hell to the realization "that he did neither what he liked nor what he ought" in his life.  

Ambition blinds us to the important things. It deludes us into thinking that climbing the corporate ladder, becoming famous, gaining wealth is most important and we do anything to achieve that goal.  Only to find, in the end, we did neither what we liked nor what we ought.

Paul, the apostle, described his ambition quite simply. He lived it out and gave his life for it.  This ambition changed the world and immortalized him as a significant part of history's development. He wrote these words to describe his ambition,

"Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him." 2 Corinthians

Imagine what a life would look like with this as the one ambition.  It would commentary EVERYTHING!  It would define what I do, how I live, how I spend my time and how I treat others by asking this simple question,

"Would this please Him?"

How would your life change if this question was the filter for every decision, every interaction, every expenditure?  How would you change if this question really mattered to you?

Imagine looking back on a life in the shadow of this question to realize you lived well, pleasing him.  Now that's an ambition worth living your life to achieve!