Healthy Ambitions
Key Verse to Read and Treasure
And make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you. (I Thessalonians 4:11, NIV)
For Insight
Are you ambitious? What are your academic, vocational, relational, financial, ambitions? Do you have spiritual ambitions? Some are ambitious but in a destructive, unhealthy, selfish way.
When St. Paul wrote the church in Thessalonica, he concluded his letter by talking to them about setting godly ambitions. He pointed out if they wanted to please the Lord they would live a life and be ambitious about doing the things that were good, productive, and honorable, glorifying to God. They were to practice brotherly love, work with their hands and make it their goal to mind their own business. He was against Christians being lazy, unproductive, or overzealous: meaning they were to be examples of what the Christian life was about, be pictures of Christlike beauty, gentleness, and quietness. They were not to push their faith on others, judge others for the lives they were living or be offensive by unattractive behavior. They were not to grieve the Holy Spirit in their living but please God.
When ambition is practiced in a healthy way it can turn out for good and fulfill God’s purposes and plans, but when its not, it will grieve the Holy Spirit of God, promote misery and resentment, give people a misconception of Christian spirituality, ruin the lives of others, and ours also.
Taking care of our own affairs, attending to the matters of our own life is a full-time job and when we make it our ambition to do just that and do it well we won’t have time to meddle in or mind the business of others.
Praying I Thessalonians 4:11
There is so much we can learn from your Word, Lord. So much we can learn about living this earthly life. Thank you for the reminder of how we are to make it our ambition to live godly lives which includes minding our own business. When we are tempted to meddle in the lives of others gently remind us what our first and most important assignment is: to make it our ambition to mind our own business. Amen
Digging Deeper
Devotionally Yours 