Ambition is a good quality to have in general, but for the child of God who has it, he or she should exercise care in how they handle it. Without ambition to power our small craft through the rough seas it will inevitably encounter, we would have no certain course and would drift aimlessly wherever the tide would carry us.
When ambition is present and is used correctly, It will power us to wherever the helm (steering mechanism) directs the boat. But, once again, we have to use ambition with care, otherwise it might overpower the helm and take us to the wrong port. Ambition is the push to succeed in what we are doing, and if it pushes us contrary to the helm (the will of God),we are in serious trouble. It will not then be an agitated sea or pounding waves that overwhelm us, it will be our excessive reliance on the thrust of our ambition. Ambition should never override the sure direction in which our helm is trying to take us.
There are various types of ambition that we might have in our journey on our personal high seas: 1) There is the obviously wrong type, the carnal ambition that is centered on self without regard to the will of God. That is a definite no-no for one who is supposed to be following Christ. 2) This second ambition type is as we discussed it above, the ambition or drive to succeed in the Lord's work that is so strong that we override the helm, which is the will of God. The thrust of our ambition propels us so strongly at times that we go outside of where the helm wants to take us, we venture outside of the will of God. When our "autopilot" (our conscience) signals "danger!" we brush it aside and insist, "I am doing the work of the Lord; nothing is going to stop me!" How dangerously foolish!
Paul cautions us to fight within the rules of the game. In the following letter to the Corinthians he likens our spiritual journey to a person running a race:
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1 Cor. 9.24-27 NIV)
At the end of many years of a glorious hard-fought race, Paul could speak to his spiritual son Timothy out of a wealth of experience:
"…if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules." (2 Tim. 2.5)
Further in the same letter to Timothy Paul made this touching and eloquent observation:
"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (2Tim. 4.5-8 NIV)
Paul did not break the rules in his ambition to succeed; he did not override the autopilot. He was very careful, in fact, not to reach beyond his "measure of faith," that which God had allotted him.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." (Rom. 12.3)
If ever there was a man of drive and ambition, it was Paul, but he kept the ambition strictly within the bounds of the will of God.
3) Now we come to the third type of ambition, one that is consonant at all times with God's purpose and direction for our lives. Once again Paul is a good example for this reason: Although his ministry was an outstanding and glorious one, in his day it was looked on by his fellow Jews as a contemptible thing – but it was in this very calling that Paul worked like a man driven, and he was certainly driven by an ambition that kept within his measure of faith.
Paul took a calling that was shameful to all but the Church and turned it around in his mind into what it really was: the "high calling of God in Christ Jesus." In similar manner he metamorphosed the cross of crucifixion from a low despicable state (which it was and rightfully still is today) into a glorious profession!
It is incumbent on us today to pursue whatever calling God has for us with the same unbridled enthusiasm, the same drive to excel, the same ambition, doing all we can, within the measure of faith allotted to us, to touch lives and to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ.
"Whereof [Paul's apostolic office] I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. (8) Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…" (Eph 3:7-8)
Be passionate in your work, however lowly, and be driven to success – all within the bounds of the will of God.
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