Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 2 Corinthians 5:9
I remember when I was a young newlywed. I went into hyper drive wanting to be the best wife I could possibly be. I was ambitious to cook my husband’s favorite meals, and tried lot’s of recipes to achieve what would become my tried and true go to’s. As a homemaker I wanted to learn all I could in order to create a welcoming and comfortable place where my family enjoyed being. I was without a doubt eager and on a mission.
The word ambition have both positive and negative definitions. The dictionary defines it beginning like this, “a particular aim or goal”. That definition can be positive if put into the right hands. But, the rest of the definition of ambition also say’s, “an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power, a desire to achieve personal advancement or preferment. When you think of it on those terms it becomes a recipe for personal advantage at the expense of others.
Thomas Brooks was a puritan and he said, “Ambition is a hidden plague, the engineer of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the destroyer of virtue and the blinder of hearts. In the Latin the word means to face both sides at the same time to campaign for promotion.
This is a brief picture of the negative side of ambition. I think its safe to say that we’ve all known someone who would be willing to get ahead at the cost of conviction and principle.
If there was ever a way to redeem the idea of ambition and elevate it from vice to virtue, I think the apostle Paul did that beautifully. He said it was his and those who served the Lord with him had a common aim, goal and ambition to please the Savior. Paul shows every one of us that a noble ambition is a good thing.
That same verb, to be pleasing to him, is used in Titus 2:9, “of slaves who please their master”. This is not a popular concept among believers today! Paul saw himself as a slave whose one purpose, one aspiration was to please his master by carrying out His will.
Paul kept life simple. His salvation was the means by which his entire life was devoted to making the most of the greatness, grace and glory of God.
Ladies, when you and I have as our highest goal to be pleasing to our Lord, it simplifies life and clarifies most of life’s issues. You can’t sit on the fence when this as your ambition.
For us as women of God we can have no higher calling than to lead a life that has at it’s core the pursuit of pleasing the heart of God. Unlike the psychology that has crept into the church that makes theology out of focusing on self. We are never more truly satisfied than when our lives become consumed with Christ and concerned for making much of Him.
Paul also said that the “love of Christ” constrained him. You see, it was the natural expression coming from a heart of gratitude that because of Christ’s love for Paul he could not use his life for himself, but only for the One who died that he might live.