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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 that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you,
doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service towards me. each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defence of the Good News.
“Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and no god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god—
He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your glory.”
They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”
You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far 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 else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
We also all once lived amongst them 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.
Be of the same mind one towards another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint. Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh,’ says the LORD, ‘but I will let you escape with your life wherever you go.’”
Where do wars and fightings amongst you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members? Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you. Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another? Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” Yet you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil. To him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin. You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
It shall not be so amongst you; but whoever desires to become great amongst you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first amongst you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.
Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learnt in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learnt the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.
Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
There are those who covet greedily all day long; but the righteous give and don’t withhold.
“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favour is better than silver and gold.
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”
Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
Then I saw all the labour and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbour. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many be defiled by it, lest there be any sexually immoral person or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears. For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burnt with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
but to those who are self-seeking and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation,
Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility and subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,
Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.
Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.
For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?
However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore 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 else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they? “Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith? “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient. so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Better is little, with the fear of the LORD, than great treasure with trouble. Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.
Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.
For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.
Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing, but from the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.
Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.
Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win. Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish.
that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them; If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter! If you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this,” doesn’t he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, doesn’t he know it? Shall he not render to every man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste; so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul. If you have found it, then there will be a reward: Your hope will not be cut off. Don’t lay in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Don’t destroy his resting place; for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity. Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls. Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown, lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. Don’t fret yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious of the wicked; for their hearts plot violence and their lips talk about mischief.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
The fear of the LORD leads to life, then contentment; he rests and will not be touched by trouble.
The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Therefore, whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Charge those who are rich in this present age that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.