College students are filling the campuses again.
The Lord has placed the word ambition on my heart.
Ambition is defined as “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”
Impactful college ministry requires ambition.
The question is:
What kind of ambition is it?
Ambition is not a bad word in ministry, but there is a bad way.
Galatians 5:19–21 lists the acts of the flesh, right before the famous listing of the fruits of the Spirit. The passage says these acts of the flesh are “obvious”—and most of them certainly are when you read the list.
But then, right in the middle of a list of obviously awful acts, is selfish ambition.
The Greek word points us to those who might seek office for self-seeking reasons, using unfair means or harboring a factious spirit.
Philippians 2:3 says to “do nothing out of selfish ambition,” and James 3 tells us that where selfish ambition exists in the heart, you’ll find disorder and “every evil practice.”
To borrow the word from Galatians 5, it’s obvious—there is a type of ambition that must be avoided: selfish ambition.
The start of the year can be a temptation factory for all sorts of selfish motives—competition to gain students, comparison, pride, dissent.
LET’S DIAL IN OUR AMBITION TO BE A KINGDOM AMBITION.
Kingdom Ambition will be marked by:
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Humility, servanthood, valuing others above yourself, unity with other ministries, depending on God as a “House of Prayer” and not a “House of Self-Sufficiency.”
But also it is marked by:
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Excellence, a high motor, no job too small, no person too unimportant, teamwork, conviction to see things done right, optimization, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Kingdom Ambition is both of those lists.
And it is not selfish.
Let’s begin our semester this way: reflecting, praying, repenting—and then walking in Kingdom Ambition for God’s glory and for more students to hear the Good News of Jesus.
Praying for each of you as a new school year begins.
