Selfish Ambition

One of the great enemies of the purpose of God is selfish ambition. To put it simply: selfish ambition is that which doesn’t look out for what is of importance to God.  

It is very stylish today to talk about God having a purpose for the individual’s life. While there is some truth to that, it is far from God’s heart.  God does have a purpose, but it is His purpose. It existed in Him before the world was conceived. It is a purpose that is eternal. It originates in Him and from Him. Jesus Christ embodies and is the firstfruits of that purpose.  

Selfish ambition is basically something centered only in the individual. It asked only, “What can I get out of this?” It looks at the people of God as some type of means to ones personal ends.  

The church of Jesus Christ wouldn’t and couldn’t be what it is today, if it weren’t for this deceptive way of life. 

One of the most important things that Jesus dealt with concerning the twelve was that they were not to be over one another; that they weren’t to be like the world was - lording it over each other. They were a family – brethren. They were to serve one another, not as some type of specialized ministry, but as members of an extended, spiritual family.  

Each one was to give something of Christ that all could be built up and profit in the Lord from. Men of ambition could never fit into this humble lifestyle.  
Those of us who see what it is that God is after, need to check themselves in His light, to see if the motives of our hearts are pure in Him.  

Jesus didn’t raise Himself up or proclaim Himself as anything, except as the Father spoke or revealed to Him. Without the Father He said that He could do nothing. How much should it also be for us?  
There have been so many in the name of Jesus that have went out on their own and built their own kingdoms. They have done more harm than they could imagine. We need to be much better than that.  

God honors those who will walk humbly with Him. Doing things to try to impress the world or others will never work. You can’t out-world the world. The great majority of Christians today can’t see past their self-centered desires to even know that there is such a thing as an eternal purpose that has existed in God before there was a creation and time.  

Remember: God reveals Himself to the humble and poor in spirit.  

Our Hearts Need to be Always Open to Him

Sharing the life of Christ together takes a lot of humility and brokeness, things that can only come from the Lord. Yet it is a heart after God that enables us to open up to Him doing this work within us, and living His life through us.

A willingness to take everything as coming from the hand of God is one of the attributes that come along with this.

What this does is keep our hearts open before God and with one another. A hard heart is possibly the greatest enemy against our allowing Him to live His life within and through us.

One of the jobs we have as the people of God is to continually remind and watch out for one another that hardness and bitterness doesn't enter within us and find a home. It can devastate everything that the Lord wants to do within us if we resist Him.

All we can do is continually be open before Him whether it is painful, joyful, happy or sad. As long as He is there with us - which He is - nothing else really matters. That He is there is enough.

He is more than willing and able to renew a right heart and spirit within us. Just trust that He will, and leave it in His hands.