Calming Our Ambitions
I am preaching over the next few weeks about pursuing what Jesus called "Abundant Life" (John 10:10)
Lots of people I know (present company excluded of course) make the mistake of thinking that the MORE WE PACK INTO LIFE the more full (or abundant) it will be. So we run around from experience to experience, dabbling in this and dabbling in that, trying to experience as many things as possible because we don't want to miss anything.
THIS is NOT what Jesus meant by ABUNDANT LIFE.
I have been struck by the Psalm I've been meditating on this week. The author talks about "calming his ambition".
Generally I think ambition is a good thing. I am ambitious as a follower of Jesus. I want to be the best Christian I can be. I am ambitious as a dad and husband. I want to be the best father, the best partner, I can be.
So I was struck by the idea that ambition needs taming. I know lots of people who seem to have NO AMBITION and it's a problem. It leads to laziness, sloth, and lack of accomplishment.
Having said that - I know what the Psalmist means. I know that sometimes because of my ambitions - I hurt people. I feel pushed rather than invited. And I end up stressed out, dragged out and frustrated with anything but abundant life.
I thought of a few ways to calm my ambitions.
- Make sure I am ambitious for the things of God... not for the things of ME.
- Enjoy what I have and where I am instead of always looking out for what I don't and where I'm not.
- Let go of some of the goal orientation in my life and be more process oriented.
