𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱?
We've said excellence is stewardship and wealth is a result, not a goal. That leaves the engine under both: ambition. Is it allowed?
The Bible has two ambitious builders in its opening chapters, and they end very differently.
Babel: "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name." Genesis 11:4. Unity, vision, engineering, scale. Everything a founder admires. And God came down and scattered it.
Abraham: "Get thee out of thy country… and I will make thy name great." Genesis 12:1-2. Same desire. A great name. But this time God is the one saying "I will make."
Same ambition. Opposite altar.
Babel made its own name. Abraham received his. One climbed. One was lifted. That is the entire difference between ambition God blesses and ambition God scatters.
𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀.
Paul was the most ambitious man in the New Testament. "I press toward the mark." "So have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named." Romans 15:20. He wanted territory nobody had taken. That is a conqueror's appetite. But it was pointed at a Kingdom that wasn't his.
James gives the test in one sentence: "Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable." James 3:16-17. Enthroned ambition produces strife; you can feel it in the room. Submitted ambition produces peace, even while it builds aggressively.
Here is the order Jesus gave, and it is an order, not a prohibition. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33. First. Not only. He assumes you will want the things. He simply refuses to let them go first.
So want the company. Want the role. Want the reach, the product, the influence. Then ask two questions, honestly.
Whose name is this building?
What would I do if He said no?
If the honest answer to the second is "I'd build it anyway," the ambition is on the throne. Take it down and put it in His hands, and watch Him do what Babel never could: make the name last.
Submitted ambition gets anointed. Enthroned ambition gets scattered.
Build. Just know who is holding the blueprint.
#InNotOf #Faith #Ambition #Kingdom
We've said excellence is stewardship and wealth is a result, not a goal. That leaves the engine under both: ambition. Is it allowed?
The Bible has two ambitious builders in its opening chapters, and they end very differently.
Babel: "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name." Genesis 11:4. Unity, vision, engineering, scale. Everything a founder admires. And God came down and scattered it.
Abraham: "Get thee out of thy country… and I will make thy name great." Genesis 12:1-2. Same desire. A great name. But this time God is the one saying "I will make."
Same ambition. Opposite altar.
Babel made its own name. Abraham received his. One climbed. One was lifted. That is the entire difference between ambition God blesses and ambition God scatters.
𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀.
Paul was the most ambitious man in the New Testament. "I press toward the mark." "So have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named." Romans 15:20. He wanted territory nobody had taken. That is a conqueror's appetite. But it was pointed at a Kingdom that wasn't his.
James gives the test in one sentence: "Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable." James 3:16-17. Enthroned ambition produces strife; you can feel it in the room. Submitted ambition produces peace, even while it builds aggressively.
Here is the order Jesus gave, and it is an order, not a prohibition. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33. First. Not only. He assumes you will want the things. He simply refuses to let them go first.
So want the company. Want the role. Want the reach, the product, the influence. Then ask two questions, honestly.
Whose name is this building?
What would I do if He said no?
If the honest answer to the second is "I'd build it anyway," the ambition is on the throne. Take it down and put it in His hands, and watch Him do what Babel never could: make the name last.
Submitted ambition gets anointed. Enthroned ambition gets scattered.
Build. Just know who is holding the blueprint.
#InNotOf #Faith #Ambition #Kingdom