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Blessed Are The Ambitious I recently attended a seminar on “integrating faith and work” and the speaker argued that our primary mission in the workplace is to witness to others about our faith in Christ. Joyfully, he explained how God had transformed his heart from “selfish ambition” to “serving Christ”. Before he had turned his life over to the Lord, he said, he had been driven by job ambition. He worked hard and he was recognized for his good results. He received a series of promotions and was “on the fast track”. Then, he said, “God took away all my selfish ambition! I became content with my current position and I was no longer so driven by work. I saw my job, instead, as an opportunity to witness.” It became evident during this seminar that his career progression had effectively stalled when he accepted Christ. He worked fewer hours in order to spend more time with family. He became less demanding, more patient and quite forgiving with his staff. And, the business results became less important than witnessing to others at work. He had “gotten his priorities right”, or so he thought. He also talked about the senior leaders in his company. None of them were Christians. They were tough bosses and their integrity was shaky. He was relieved that he didn’t have to mix it up with them too much anymore. He could just keep his head down and run his own department in more righteous ways. As I listened to him talk, I began to ask myself if God really wanted to take away our ambitions. I am certain that Satan works fervently to raise up his followers into high positions of influence in business, government, education and all other areas of our culture. In fact, when we look at many of our government leaders, the media elite, the Hollywood influencers, corporate CEO’s and educational secularists we see that Satan has been largely successful. Is it God’s will then that His followers should so contentedly step aside to allow others to move up the ladder into influential positions? I think not. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 14 contains the well known verses wherein Christ talks about His second coming and he tells us in verse 35 to “keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back…” But “keep watch” sounds quite passive, like we are simply to wait, to hide out, so long as we stay vigilant to look for His return... when all will be made right! Verse 34, however, has a very active command for us, one that is quite clear:
Christ puts his servants in charge of His house, His kingdom! And, we each have our assigned task. Though the Israelites were God’s first chosen people, God’s kingdom became all nations, through Christ. He left us in charge. Why then would we think that God does not wish us to be in charge of our schools, our corporations, our governments, media and the entertainment arts? Why do we revere evangelists and church leaders who work tirelessly and rise to great prominence – and missionaries whose families usually make great sacrifices – but we shake our heads with concern over the soul of a Christian who works “too hard” towards becoming a leader in the board room, school room, court room, news room or cinema? Is it a “calling” when it is an ordained ministry, but selfish ambition when it is secular leadership? Who is influencing God’s kingdom more in our generation? Is it the 61,260 clergy, religious workers and religious educators1, or is it groups of leaders such as:
A Christianity Today article cited recent surveys that suggest that in a given week only 20-30% of our population attend church, though 40% say they are “regular attendees”6. This means that the clergy gets about 15 minutes of influence each week for the average American. This compares to a lot of other leadership influences:
I’m unable to measure the influence of judges and legislators in “hours of our lives”, in the same way that we can do so with teachers, bosses, TV shows and movies – but we know how great an influence these people have on our culture! In fact, the Old Testament makes clear that rulers and judges were the primary influencers on whether the nation of Israel was blessed or punished. How then should we expect our 60,000+ clergy to fare in this country if Christians don’t have ambition to occupy the leadership roles in schools, business, government, media, or the arts and entertainment? The answer is clearly seen in the years of my own generation. Vestiges of Christianity in our government, schools, entertainment, media and the arts have virtually disappeared. The Church has gone from being a mainstream architect of our Constitution to a political faction that is rapidly losing its influence on society. So let me return to the seminar leader who had lost his “selfish ambition”—praise the Lord. God clearly removes the “selfish” part. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…” and James 3:16 says, “…where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and evil practice.” Galatians 5:19-20 also lists selfish ambition among a list of sins that include immorality, debauchery, idolatry and even orgies! Webster’s dictionary provides two definitions of “ambition”, one of which I think reflects selfishness, but the other is at least neutral. The first is “an ardent desire for rank, fame or power” but the second is simply “a desire to achieve a particular end”. If your desire is to serve God, then you must be open to serve in the highest places. Rather than telling His followers to sit by the wayside, God has a way of raising people up, leading them to promotions well beyond their normal abilities. My favorite Bible story on this is Joseph. Here are some of the keys to what God does:
Joseph worked hard and got good results
His superior performance soon resulted in another promotion:
He then managed the estate well:
Unfortunately, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of rape and Potiphar had him sent off to prison. But Joseph simply began his management success program all over again with remarkable results!
The Lord then magnified his abilities
Joseph then became like the people he
would lead
Joseph always honored God
Through Joseph, God blessed His people Joseph had now risen to the top position (under Pharaoh) in the top country in the world. His leadership saved Egypt from famine. However, it did a great deal more. Look at this chronology:
Because of Joseph’s foresight, Egypt did not starve. Other countries were able to survive as well because of what they had stored up. Joseph, however, extracted a large price. The grain was collected through taxes (one fifth) and was later sold back at a greater and greater cost to the people. At first the Egyptians gave up their savings, later they gave up their livestock, and then their land and even their freedom. Joseph, the foreigner, had made the Egyptian people into landless servants! Meanwhile, Joseph’s father (Jacob) and his brothers settled in Egypt. Because of Joseph’s good planning and management, Pharaoh was generous with Joseph’s family. Genesis 47:27 says:
So there you have it. In fourteen short years, God raised Joseph to prominence, reduced Egyptians to landless servants and transferred land and property to Jacob’s family such that they could prosper and grow! Everything had been turned upside down. Why then do we feel so intimidated by the trends in our secular society? Can not God raise up many of you to reverse this as He did with Joseph – just one person who changed a nation within a few decades? There’s also a postscript to the Joseph story with a warning. After Joseph died there was no Hebrew leader of influence within Egypt to replace him. Within only a few hundred years, everything that the Israelites had gained under Joseph was taken away and they became slaves, forced into hard labor and ruthlessly oppressed. It only requires more Christians to believe that God has relieved them of ambition for our country to continue on its own moral slide. I think that evangelist Jerry Falwell, who passed away only one year ago, realized this. He founded Liberty University in 1971 as a Christian institution of higher learning with a mission to “develop Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact tomorrow’s world”. Their “twelve aims” also includes this statement:
Competence and determination, along with God’s readiness to magnify your abilities, are the key ingredients to becoming leaders in your vocation. I especially like the word “determination”. It sounds a bit like “ambition”. Blessed are those who are ambitious to lead righteously, for they will bless the nation!
1
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#b00-0000
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