How God used the ambition of one man …
Before the Apostle Paul had a remarkable conversion experience while traveling the road to Damascus, he was known as “Saul,” and Saul was a very ambitious fellow.
His ambition?
To reach the pinnacle of religious leadership, something he was attaining with cold tactics and brutal confidence. He launched his ambition by receiving the best “seminary” education of his day …
“Then Paul said, ‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today,'” Acts 22:3.
Then he pursued his ambition fueled by a perfectionistic hunger …
“Though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin — a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault,” Philippians 3:4-6.
Saul’s unbridled ambition changed in a moment when he met Jesus …
“As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me. I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’” Acts 22:6-10.
In his conversion from Saul the persecutor of the church, to Paul the Apostle, God did not remove or lessen the characteristic of ambition in Paul, He simply redirected it …
“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.” – 1 Timothy 1:5.
Many of us live lives fully given to the pursuit of our ambitions, and what we want from our ambition is a reward. Joshua Noble recites the tale of a young, ambitious lawyer who was moving up from a local district attorney’s office to a large and prestigious law firm. His boss at the DA’s office was disappointed to see him go. He told the young lawyer that he belonged there; that he was great at his job; that there he had an opportunity to usher in a small amount of justice in a place where justice was rarely the outcome. The young lawyer replied, “I have worked too hard to stay where I belong.”
Like that young attorney, we pour out our lives chasing an ambition for the sake of a reward. Concluding his story, Noble states, “How many of us have chased big dreams, pouring our time, energy, and resources into reaching them, only to pass right by the place where God could use us and our talents the most?”
Paul’s life would forever be changed by meeting Jesus, and allowing the Lord to change the content of his life’s ambition. Scripture tells us that God IS love, and that the greatest commandment from God is to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Paul’s new ambition in life became one of helping people be “filled with love” that only comes from knowing and loving the One who IS love.
What is the chief aim of your ambition in life? How does the exercise of your ambition bring glory to God and benefit others?
Scotty
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