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110 Bible verses about Ambition
Ambition. It's something we all wrestle with, isn't it? The Bible speaks a lot about it, both as something to be careful of and something we can use for good. It's a tricky thing to navigate.
Scripture encourages us to be humble and put God first, not our own earthly desires. Proverbs 21:251 talks about how dangerous unchecked ambition can be – how it can lead to laziness and a lack of drive to actually do the work. It's a good reminder to check our hearts.
Jesus also talked about ambition. He told his disciples to seek God's kingdom first and foremost, to trust that everything else will fall into place (Matthew 6:33). It makes me think about what I'm truly striving for. Am I chasing after God's will, or my own?
It's so important to examine our motivations. What's driving our goals and dreams? Are they lining up with God's purpose for our lives? I think we should all strive for a healthy ambition, one that's focused on loving and serving God and others. When we seek His will, we find a real sense of fulfillment, something way deeper than any achievement or possession could ever give us.
and to aspire to live a quiet life, and to attend to your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you,
Do nothing according to selfish ambition or according to empty conceit, but in humility considering one another better than yourselves,because on account of the work of Christ he came near to the point of death, risking his life in order that he might make up for your inability to serve me.each of you not looking out for your own interests, but also each of you for the interests of others.
The former proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking to raise up affliction in my imprisonment.
“Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because your heart was haughty, and you said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of the gods, I sit in the heart of the seas!’ But you are a human, not a god, and you gave your heart to be like the heart of a god.
For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.
And he said to them, “What do you want that I do for you?”So they said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.”
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
And you yourself said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;I will ascend to the high places of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’
“No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.
among whom also we all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and we were children of wrath by nature, as also the rest of them were.
Think the same thing toward one another; do not think arrogantly, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own sight.
because everything that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
And he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves from all greediness, because not even when someone has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.
Do not tire in order to become rich; out of your understanding, may you desist.Your eyes will alight on it, but there is nothing to it, for suddenly it will make for itself wings like an eagle and it will be exhausted in the heavens.
Do nothing according to selfish ambition or according to empty conceit, but in humility considering one another better than yourselves,
But godliness with contentment is a great means of gain.For we have brought nothing into the world, so that neither can we bring anything out.But if we have food and clothing, with these things we will be content.
And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek great things, for look, I am about to bring disaster upon all flesh,” declares Yahweh, “but to you I will give your life as booty in all the places where you may go.” ’ ”
From where are conflicts and from where are quarrels among you? Is it not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members?Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of the law.There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there, and carry on business and make a profit,”you who do not know what will happen tomorrow, what your life will be like. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears.Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.Therefore, to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.
And a dispute also occurred among them as to which of them was recognized as being greatest.
It will not be like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Whoever loves money is not satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth is not satisfied with profit. This also is vanity!
Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.I know how both to make do with little and I know how to have an abundance. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to have an abundance and to go without.
Your lifestyle must be free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, “I will never desert you, and I will never abandon you.”
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal,Therefore whenever you practice charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consuming insect destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
A reputation is to be chosen rather than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.
No domestic slave is able to serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.”
Therefore indeed we have as our ambition, whether at home in the body or absent from the body, to be acceptable to him.
I also realized that all of the toil and all of the skillful work that is done—it is envy between one man and another. This also is vanity and chasing wind!
For those who are living according to the flesh are intent on the things of the flesh, but those who are living according to the Spirit are intent on the things of the Spirit.For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace,
Do not fear when a man becomes rich, when the wealth of his house increases,because when he dies he will not take away any of it. His wealth will not follow down after him.
But each one is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desires.Then desire, after it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is brought to completion, gives birth to death.
And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.
He who trusts in his wealth is he who will fall, but like a green leaf the righteous will flourish.
Trust Yahweh with all your heart; do not lean toward your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will straighten your paths.
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I say to you that with difficulty a rich person will enter into the kingdom of heaven!And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person into the kingdom of God.”
Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us,For they disciplined us for a few days according to what seemed appropriate to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we can have a share in his holiness.Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.Therefore strengthen your slackened hands and your weakened knees,and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed.Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.Take care that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no one growing up like a root of bitterness causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;that no one be a sexually immoral or totally worldly person like Esau, who for one meal traded his own birthright.For you know that also afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he did not find an occasion for repentance, although he sought it with tears.For you have not come to something that can be touched, and to a burning fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to a whirlwind,and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged that not another word be spoken to them.fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Whom do I have in the heavens except you? And with you I have no other desire on earth.My flesh and heart failed, but God is the strength of my heart and my reward forever.
But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
but to those who act from selfish ambition and who disobey the truth, but who obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger.
In the same way, younger men, be subject to the elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the right time,
Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, it does not boast, it does not become conceited,it does not behave dishonorably, it is not selfish, it does not become angry, it does not keep a record of wrongs,
Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires.If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Why do you weigh out money for what is not food, and your labor for what cannot satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul take pleasure in rich food.
Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
Sheol and Abaddon will not be satisfied, and the eyes of a person will not be satisfied either.
Therefore, whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.
But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have considered loss because of Christ.More than that, I even consider all things to be loss because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for the sake of whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them dung, in order that I may gain Christ
“And take care not to practice your righteousness before people to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.Give us today our daily bread,and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.For if you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your sins.“Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!But when you are fasting, put olive oil on your head and wash your faceso that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal,Therefore whenever you practice charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consuming insect destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.“The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if your eye is sincere, your whole body will be full of light.But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. Therefore if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!“No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.“For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, and not for your body, what you will wear. Is your life not more than food and your body more than clothing?Consider the birds of the sky, that they do not sow or reap or gather produce into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are?And who among you, by being anxious, is able to add one hour to his life span?And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil or spin,but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these.But you, when you practice charitable giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,But if God dresses the grass of the field in this way, although it is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not do so much more for you, you of little faith?Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’for the pagans seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.in order that your charitable giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Better is little with the fear of Yahweh than great treasure and trouble with it.Better is a dinner of vegetables when love is there than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
those who trust their wealth and boast about the abundance of their riches?Surely a man cannot redeem a brother. He cannot give to God his ransom
for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,hardhearted, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, savage, with no interest for what is good,traitors, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God,maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people.
For who concedes you superiority? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if indeed you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.”
For this you know for certain, that every sexually immoral person, or unclean person, or greedy person (who is an idolater), does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Therefore put to death what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustful passion, evil desire, and greediness, which is idolatry,
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are inscribed in heaven.”
Keep falsehood and a lying word far from me; do not give me poverty or wealth; provide me with food only for my need.Or else I will be satisfied and will deny him and say “Who is Yahweh?” Or I will be poor and will steal and profane the name of my God.
Let your adornment not be the external kind, braiding hair and putting on gold jewelry or putting on fine clothing,but the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is highly valuable in the sight of God.
Do not trust in extortion, and do not put vain confidence in robbery. If wealth increases, do not set your heart on it.
And when he heard this, Jesus said to him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all that you have, and distribute the proceeds to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.”But when he heard these things he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.
Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things. Thus those do so in order that they may receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.
For he sees that the wise die, together with the fool and brute they perish, and leave their wealth to the next generation.Within them they think their houses are forever, their dwelling places from generation to generation. They name their lands by their own names.But man cannot continue in his pomp. He is like the beasts that perish.
that you take off, according to your former way of life, the old man, who is being destroyed according to deceitful desires,be renewed in the spirit of your mind,and put on the new man (in accordance with God), who is created in righteousness and holiness from the truth.
Do not envy men of evil, and do not desire to be with them.If you faint on the day of adversity, little is your strength.Rescue those who are led away to the death and those who stagger to the slaughter. If you hold back,if you say, “Look, we do not know this,” does not he who weighs hearts perceive it? And he who keeps your soul, he knows and will repay humankind according to his deeds.My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the dripping of the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.Thus know wisdom for the sake of your soul, if you find it, then there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against the home of the righteous; do not do violence to his dwelling place.For seven times the righteous will fall, but he will rise, but the wicked will be overthrown by calamity.While your enemies are falling, do not rejoice; when he trips himself, may your heart not be gladlest Yahweh see and it be evil in his eyes, and turn his anger away from him.Do not fret because of the evildoers; do not envy the wicked.For their minds will devise violence, and their lips will speak mischief.
So then, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Fear of Yahweh leads to life; he who is filled with it will rest—he will not suffer harm.
The haughty eyes of humanity will be brought low, and the pride of everyone will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.
Therefore in all things, whatever you want that people should do to you, thus also you do to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never carry out the desire of the flesh.For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that whatever you want, you may not do these things.
and everything whatever you do in word or in deed, giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus to God the Father through him.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be proud and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who provides us all things richly for enjoyment,to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, sharing freely,storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, in order that they may take hold of what is truly life.
And my God will fulfill your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Because better is a day in your courtyards than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be at the threshold of the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Therefore, consider carefully how you live, not as unwise but as wise,making the most of the time because the days are evil.
And God is able to cause all grace to abound to you, so that in everything at all times, because you have enough of everything, you may overflow in every good work.