Category
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 make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,
doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to fulfill what was lacking in your service to me. not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me affliction in my chains.
“Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because your heart is lofty And you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit enthroned in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas’; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God—
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice.
And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And they said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”
And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
“But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
“No one can 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 cannot serve God and wealth.
among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
by being of the same mind toward one another, not being haughty in mind, but associating with the humble. Do not be wise in your own mind.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Then He said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not coming down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice.
¶Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Because of your understanding, cease! Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there! Because it certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves,
But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
But as for you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am going to bring calamity on all flesh,’ declares Yahweh, ‘but I will give your life to you as spoil in all the places where you may go.’ ”
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. Do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judge your neighbor? Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin. You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so 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, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its produce. This too is vanity.
Not that I speak from want, for I learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in abundance; in any and all things I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
All day long he is insatiably craving, While the righteous gives and does not hold back.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
Wealth will not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness will deliver from death.
I have seen that every labor and every success of the work is the result of jealousy between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
¶Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house increases; For when he dies he will not take any of it; His glory will not descend after him.
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.
Trust in Yahweh with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter 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 for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share His holiness. And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord, seeing to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that also there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
¶Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart fail, But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger.
You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up; it does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered;
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become those with vain glory, challenging one another, envying one another.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight your soul in richness.
Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but considerate, peaceable, free from the love of money;
It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ
“Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’] For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. “Now whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, 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; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can 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 cannot serve God and wealth. “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Better is a little with the fear of Yahweh Than great treasure and turmoil with it. Better is a dish of vegetables where there is love Than a fattened ox and hatred in it.
Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? Truly, no man can redeem his brother; He cannot give to God a ransom for him—
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, without love for good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Keep away from such men as these.
For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
For this you know with certainty, that no one sexually immoral or impure or greedy, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
Keep worthlessness and every false word far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, Lest I be full and deny You and say, “Who is Yahweh?” Or lest I be impoverished and steal, And profane the name of my God.
Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on garments; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible quality of a lowly and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
Do not trust in oppression And do not put vain hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack: sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
¶For he sees that even wise men die; The fool and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places from generation to generation; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his honor will not endure; He is like the animals that perish.
to lay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Do not be jealous of evil men, And do not desire to be with them; ¶If you are slack in the day of trouble, Your strength is in trouble. ¶Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are stumbling to the slaughter, Oh hold them back. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts understand? And does not He who guards your soul know? And will not He render to man according to his work? ¶Eat honey, my son, for it is good, Indeed, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; Know that wisdom is thus for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off. ¶Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the abode of the righteous; Do not destroy his resting place; For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked will stumble in calamity. ¶When your enemy falls, do not be glad, And when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice; Lest Yahweh see it and it be evil in His eyes, And turn His anger away from him. ¶Do not fret because of evildoers Do not be jealous of the wicked; For their heart meditates on destruction, And their lips talk of mischief.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
The fear of Yahweh leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, not visited by evil.
The lofty look of man will be made low, And the men made high will be bowed down, And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
“Therefore, in all things, whatever you want people to do for you, so do for 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, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want.
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
And my God will fulfill all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
For better is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
And God is able to make every grace abound to you, so that in everything at every time having every sufficiency, you may have an abundance for every good deed;