Wanting To Be In The Spotlight Can Be Dangerous
The spotlight can be a dangerous place. We should not shirk it if called to be in it but neither should we crave it. How many times do each of us not really listen well because we are busy thinking of what we are going to say when the spotlight is on us to talk? Do we ever pout, via withdrawal, silence, or disapproving body language when things don’t go our way? Are there any times we seek power or prestige? Do we sometimes make our own plans without checking in on what the Lord wants us to be aiming at? All of these are forms of ambition. It can be subtle. For instance, a student who talks in class when the teacher is talking is showing that they would prefer to be the center of attention to at least one person regardless of the inappropriateness of it at that time. This, too, is ambition.
Ambition is reaching out, like Adam and Eve did in the Garden, for that at which we should not be aiming. Thus, it is an overstepping. We go beyond what the Lord has assigned to us (2 Cor 10:13). To use a track metaphor, we have run out of our lane into someone else’s lane. We have been intrusive and disrespectful and have ignored the rules. Since God sets the rules and assigns each of us our own lane, ministers who expand their ministry beyond what God wants for them are guilty of such ambition. Ideally, Christians are to not have personal ambitions. We want what the Lord wants for us (1 Thessalonians 4:10-11, Phillips-2nd ed).
When the Lord tells us to run a certain race, starting at a particular time, in such-and-such lane, we are to zealously run with energy and passion (Col 3:23). That is valid. Much of the time, however, we focus on our agenda rather than God’s. We want to set our own rules and give our own assignments. We are ambitious.
It takes humility to give up our own ambition. We must depend upon and trust Him to have the proper aim and to not fail us. Really, we must get outside our little perspective about how His aim might affect us and only concern ourselves with pleasing Him and furthering His kingdom when and how He wants.
Loving trust is more important than mere head knowledge.