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 live peaceably, and to attend to your own, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,
doing none at all through selfishness or self-conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.because for the work of Messiah he was near death, risking his life, to fill up what was lacking in your service toward me.Each one should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defence of the Good News.
“Son of man, say to the prince of Tsor, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, ‘I am Ěl, I sit in the seat of Elohim, in the heart of the seas,’ whereas you are a man, and not Ěl, though you set your heart as the heart of Elohim!
And He said to them, “What do you wish Me to do for you?”And they said to Him, “Grant us to be seated in Your esteem, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left.”
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over all the face of the earth.”
“For you have said in your heart, ‘Let me go up to the heavens, let me raise my throne above the stars of Ěl, and let me sit in the mount of appointment on the sides of the north;let me go up above the heights of the clouds, let me be like the Most High.’
No one is able to serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cleave to the one and despise the other. You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon.
among whom also we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest.
Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be proud in mind, but go along with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
Because all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.
And He said to them, “Mind, and beware of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the excess of his possessions.”
But if you have bitter jealousy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast against and lie against the truth.This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but it is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.For where jealousy and self-seeking are, there is confusion and every foul deed.
Do not labour to be rich. Cease from your own understanding!Do you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle to the heavens.
doing none at all through selfishness or self-conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
But reverence with contentment is great gain.For we brought naught into the world, and it is impossible to take any out.When we have food and covering, we shall be satisfied with these.
“And do you seek great matters for yourself? Do not seek them, for look, I am bringing evil on all flesh,” declares יהוה. “But I shall give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” ’ ”
Where do fightings and strivings come from among you? Do they not come from your pleasures that battle in your members?Humble yourselves in the sight of the Master, and He shall lift you up.Brothers, do not speak against one another. He that speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against Torah and judges Torah. And if you judge Torah, you are not a doer of Torah but a judge.There is one Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, let us go to such and such a city, spend a year there, and trade, and make a profit,”when you do not know of tomorrow. For what is your life? For it is a vapour that appears for a little, and then disappears –instead of your saying, “If the Master desires, we shall live and do this or that.”But now you boast in your proud speeches. All such boasting is wicked.To him, then, 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 jealous, and are unable to obtain. You strive and fight, and you do not possess, because you do not ask.You ask and do not receive, because you ask evilly, in order to spend it on your pleasures.
“But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you, let him be your servant.And whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be your servant,”even as the Son of Aḏam did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
He who loves silver is not satisfied with silver; nor he who loves wealth, and increase. That too is futile.
Not that I speak concerning need, for I have learned to be content in whatever state I am.I know what it is to be humbled, and I know what it is to have in excess. In any and every situation I have learned both to be filled, and to be hungry, both to have in excess, and to be in need.
Let your way of life be without the love of silver, and be satisfied with what you have. For He Himself has said, “I shall never leave you nor forsake you,”
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,“Thus, when you do a kind deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, in the congregations and in the streets, to be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.
“No servant is able to serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cling to the one and despise the other. You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon.”
So we also make it our aim to be well-pleasing to Him, whether being at home, or being away from home.
And I saw that all the toil and skill of the work bring envy between man and his neighbour. That too is futile and feeding on wind.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the matters of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the matters of the Spirit.For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.
Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the wealth of his house increases;For when he dies he takes none of it; His wealth does not go down after him.
But each one is enticed when he is drawn away by his own desires and trapped.Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.
Trust in יהוה with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;Know Him in all your ways, And He makes all your paths straight.
And יהושע said to His taught ones, “Truly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the reign of the heavens.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 into the reign of Elohim.”
We too, then, having so great a cloud of witnesses all around us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us,For they indeed disciplined us for a few days as seemed best to them, but He does it for our profit, so that we might share His apartness.And indeed, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but grievous, but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.So, strengthen the hands which hang down and the weak knees,and make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned aside, but instead, to be healed.Pursue peace with all, and pursue apartness without which no one shall see the Master.See to it that no one falls short of the favour of Elohim, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, by which many become defiled,lest there be anyone who whores, or profane one, like Ěsaw, who for a single meal sold his birthright.For you know that afterward, when he wished to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears.For you have not drawn near to a mountain touched and scorched with fire, and to blackness, and darkness and storm,and a sound of a trumpet, and a voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that no further Word should be spoken to them,looking to the Prince and Perfecter of our belief, יהושע, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, having despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim.
Whom do I have in the heavens? And I have desired no one besides You on earth.My flesh and my heart shall waste away, But Elohim is the rock of my heart And my portion forever.
But seek first the reign of Elohim, and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you.
but wrath and displeasure to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness;
In the same way, you younger ones, be subject to elders. And gird yourselves with humility toward one another, for “Elohim resists the proud, but gives favour to the humble.”Humble yourselves, then, under the mighty hand of Elohim, so that He exalts you in due time,
Love is patient, is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, is not puffed up,does not behave indecently, does not seek its own, is not provoked, reckons not the evil,
And those who are of Messiah have impaled the flesh with its passions and the desires.If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
For everyone who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he who is humbling himself shall be exalted.
“And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
“Why do you weigh out silver for what is not bread, and your labour for what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and let your being delight itself in fatness.
I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the esteem of Elohim.
But what might have been a gain to me, I have counted as loss, because of Messiah.What is more, I even count all to be loss because of the excellence of the knowledge of Messiah יהושע my Master, for whom I have suffered the loss of all, and count them as refuse, in order to gain Messiah,
“Beware of doing your kind deeds before men, in order to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in the heavens.let Your reign come, let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.‘And do not lead us into trial, but deliver us from the wicked one – because Yours is the reign and the power and the esteem, forever. Amĕn.’“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father shall also forgive you.But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither shall your Father forgive your trespasses.“And when you fast, do not be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that they appear to be fasting to men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,“Thus, when you do a kind deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, in the congregations and in the streets, to be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, all your body shall be enlightened.But if your eye is evil, all your body shall be darkened. If, then, the light that is within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!No one is able to serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cleave to the one and despise the other. You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon.“Because of this I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you shall eat or drink, or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than the food and the body more than the clothing?Look at the birds of the heaven, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father does feed them. Are you not worth more than they?“And which of you by worrying is able to add one cubit to his life’s span?So why do you worry about clothing? Note well the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin,and I say to you that even Shelomoh in all his esteem was not dressed like one of these.But when you do a kind deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,“But if Elohim so clothes the grass of the field, which exists today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more you, O you of little belief?Do not worry then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’“For all these the nations seek for. And your heavenly Father knows that you need all these.But seek first the reign of Elohim, and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you.“Do not, then, worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall have its own worries. Each day has enough evil of itself.so that your kind deed shall be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall Himself reward you openly.
Better is a little with the fear of יהוה, Than great treasure with trouble.Better is a meal of vegetables where love is, Than a fatted calf with hatred.
Those who are trusting in their riches And who are boasting in their great wealth?A brother does not redeem anyone at all, Neither give to Elohim a ransom for him;
For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of silver, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, thankless, wrong-doers,unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, haters of good,betrayers, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Elohim,having a form of reverence but denying its power. And turn away from these!
For who makes you to differ? And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
But He gives greater favour. Because of this He says, “Elohim resists the proud, but gives favour to the humble.”
יהושע said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.”
For this you know, that no one who whores, nor unclean one, nor one greedy of gain, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the reign of Messiah and Elohim.
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: whoring, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed of gain, which is idolatry.
“But do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names have been written in the heavens.”
Remove falsehood and a lying word far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me my lawfull bread;Lest I become satisfied and deny You, And say, “Who is יהוה?” And lest I be poor, and steal, And seize the Name of my Elohim.
Your adornment should not be outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on dresses –but the hidden man of the heart, with the incorruptible ornament of a meek and peaceable spirit, which is of great value before Elohim.
Do not trust in oppression. And do not become vain in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.
And hearing this, יהושע said to him, “Yet one you lack: Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.”But when he heard this, he became intensely sad, for he was extremely rich.
Do you not know that those who run in a race indeed all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to obtain it.And everyone who competes controls himself in every way. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we for an incorruptible crown.
For he sees wise men die, The foolish and the ignorant both perish, And shall leave their wealth to others.Their inner thoughts are their houses, forever; Their dwelling places, to all generations; They call their lands after their own names.But man does not remain in esteem, He is like the beasts that perish.
that you put off – with regard to your former behaviour – the old man, being corrupted according to the desires of the deceit,and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,and that you put on the renewed man which was created according to Elohim, in righteousness and set-apartness of the truth.
Do not envy evil men, Nor desire to be with them;If you falter in the day of distress, Your strength is small!Deliver those taken to death, And hold back those stumbling to the kill,If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Would not He who weighs the hearts discern it? He who watches over your life, Would He not know it? And shall He not repay man according to his work?My son, eat honey, for it is good, And the honeycomb, sweet to your taste;Know that wisdom is thus to your being; If you have found it, there is a future, And your expectancy is not cut off.Do not lie in wait, O wrong one, Against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not ravage his resting place;For seven times a righteous man falls and rises, But the wrong one stumbles into evil.Do not exult when your enemy falls, And let not your heart rejoice when he stumbles;Lest יהוה see and it be evil in His eyes, And He turn away His wrath from him.Do not fret because of evil-doers, And do not envy the wrong;For their heart plots to ravage, And their lips talk of trouble.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Master, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Master.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the pride of men shall be bowed down, and יהוה alone shall be exalted in that day.
And do not forget to do good and to share, for with such slaughter offerings Elohim is well pleased.
“Therefore, whatever you wish men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Torah and the Prophets.
For the reign of Elohim is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Set-apart Spirit.
And I say: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not accomplish the lust of the flesh.For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you desire to do.
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Master יהושע, giving thanks to Elohim the Father through Him.
Charge those who are rich in this present age not to be high-minded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living Elohim, who gives us richly all for enjoyment,to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share,storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, so that they lay hold on everlasting life.
And my Elohim shall fill all your need according to His riches in esteem by Messiah יהושע.
For a day in Your courts Is better than a thousand days. I have chosen rather to be a doorkeeper In the House of my Elohim, Than to dwell in the tents of the wrong.
See then that you walk exactly, not as unwise, but as wise,redeeming the time, because the days are wicked.
And Elohim is able to make all favour overflow toward you, that you, always having all you need in every way, have plenty for every good work.