The Secret of Ambition

Somewhere down the road of life, many of us either lose our ambition or, worse yet, come to believe that ambition is a bad thing. Some even go so far as to believe that if we are going to be truly spiritual, we have to free ourselves from all ambition [I know this is a core tenet of Buddhism as just one example]. The tragedy, of course, is that this is completely untrue. Not only is ambition a good thing, it is also a God thing! It is actually God Himself who has placed within each of us the amazing fuel of ambition.

Another Michael W. Smith song comes to mind here:

Nobody understood His secret ambition
Nobody knew His claim to fame
He broke the old rules steeped in tradition
He tore the Holy Veil away.

Questioning those in powerful positions
Running to those who called His name
(But) Nobody knew His secret ambition
Was to give His life away.

Talk about someone with ambition! It was no one other Jesus Christ who sought to single-handedly save mankind ... even if His was a "secret [too often misunderstood] ambition." And to a lesser degree this is true of us as well. We cannot live the life God created for us to live without being ambitious. The very reason our hearts leap within us when we see greatness is that our spirits are drawn to it. Our spirits resonate with greatness when we witness it on the playing field, in the theater, in our leaders, or in virtually any field of endeavor when someone truly becomes the best there is at what they do.

And though many of us have come to mistakenly believe that ambition is unhealthy, the truth of the matter is that when we lose our ambition, we lose our futures. And when we lose our futures, we lose our hope. And no one can live well without hope. When we let our dreams die, we begin dying with them.

Every human being has a need for progress. This is not accidental. God created each of us with an intrinsic need to become. We are connected not only to our pasts and presents, but also to our futures. There is a reason why we have a sense of destiny. It was placed there by God and He woos us to pursue it. The point here is not about what it is that we strive for but the very fact that we strive.

Have you noticed that those with great ambitions have a disproportionate effect on the future? The future is not simply entered into; it is created. To create we must first dream, then act. The future does not happen by accident; it happens through active engagement. Too many of us have missed this point. We have allowed history to be shaped by those who are distant from God and hostile toward people.

Evil never seeks permission. Tyrants never consider the appropriateness of their actions. One of the great tragedies of human history is that while those who are motivated by greed, power and violence have forged the future of their liking, too many of us who long for a better world have sat passively by, watching and wishing the world could be different, thinking it is God's job to fix everything. Sincere people have deferred their responsibility while waiting on God to do something, which creates a spirituality lacking both initiative and engagement. This goes against the nature of the human spirit, and it goes against the way God has created us. Some might actually conclude that God Himself is apathetic and indifferent just because we are.

God, however, created us to engage, to solve problems, to meet needs, to do something with our lives. He made us to get involved and He expects us to act. That's why someone like Mother Teresa helps us believe in God. Human compassion both reflects God and moves us toward God.

Did I mention that the future doesn't happen by accident? We were created to believe in progress and to pursue it with passion. It is God who designed us this way. He made us creative and He holds us responsible.