Ambition (see also satisfaction)

Fulfillment will only come with total commitment to the Word of God.

• Proverbs 4:13 HCSB Hold on to instruction; don't let go. Guard it, for it is your life.

Make sure that your ambition is well placed. Investing your efforts in something with little or no lasting value is foolish. Investing in something that could very well save your life seems to be the only sensible course. So invest your efforts in determining exactly what right living is and then go do it.

• Proverbs 10:2 HCSB Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.

Wicked people are ambitious for money, for position, for titles, for praise, or for power. But they can never be satisfied by them. They always need a little more money, a little more praise, a little more power. But the hopes of the godly, which are righteous and spiritual, result in true and lasting happiness.

• Proverbs 10:28 HCSB The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked comes to nothing.

Ambition should include fulfillment and inner spiritual nourishment. What good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your soul in the process?

• Proverbs 11:17 HCSB A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings disaster on himself.

Desire the things that will last. Think long-term. Think about eternity. Who cares if your rich and famous for 60 years only to live in darkness and torture for eternity?

• Proverbs 11:18 HCSB The wicked man earns an empty wage, but the one who sows righteousness, a true reward.

Some people have huge houses that cost millions, but no furniture inside because they can’t afford it. Everything’s beautiful outside but empty and useless inside. Don’t be ambitious for mere appearance. Look for real benefits.

• Proverbs 12:9 HCSB Better to be dishonored, yet have a servant, than to act important but have no food.

Dare to dream! Discover your purpose in life. Determine how God has wired you. Delight in the practice of your gifts and talents. When it comes about there will be nothing like it.

• Proverbs 13:12 HCSB Delayed hope makes the heart sick, but fulfilled desire is a tree of life.

The godly, being satisfied with what God gives them, discover that they don’t need as much as they thought. Therefore they are not shackled by the need to work so much to earn so much to buy so much to consume even more. The wicked, however, whose god is their appetite, must go through their lives attempting to assuage its sensuous demands. And since their god is insatiable, they must live an unslaked life.

• Proverbs 13:25 HCSB A righteous man eats until he is satisfied, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.

The godly work quietly and with great energy. They serve their master as though he were the Lord himself. Thus their employer is pleased and keeps them. Because they live simple lives, untrammeled by the constant search for the next big “thing” they have enough to get by on, enough to give back to God, enough to care for others and still set some aside for the future. The wicked, constantly trying to” keep up with the Jones family” will get into debt and may actually come by more money through unethical means.

• Proverbs 15:6 HCSB The house of the righteous has great wealth, but trouble accompanies the income of the wicked.

How hungry are you for it? How hungry are your people? Ambition is driven by a dissatisfaction with the status quo. Ambition is a type of hunger.

• Proverbs 16:26 HCSB A worker's appetite works for him because his hunger urges him on.

Don’t let ambition make you cross the line – you’ll regret it.

• Proverbs 20:17 HCSB Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is full of gravel.

The mere accumulation of wealth is not an object worthy of your ambition.

• Proverbs 23:4-5 HCSB Don't wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it. 5 As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

You may see the wicked temporarily winning. They may have, by stepping on others, by cutting corners and betraying loyalties, a temporary advantage. But don’t try to imitate them. Remember the long term. Do it right.

• Proverbs 23:17-18 HCSB Don't be jealous of sinners; instead, always fear the LORD. 18 For then you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

If you truly want to achieve your ambition, then be an avid collector of knowledge on your field. Seek out the advice of people who excel in it. Hire those who are wise to counsel you. Hire the best money can buy. Beg or borrow brains. You won’t regret it.

• Proverbs 24:13-14 HCSB Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate; 14 realize that wisdom is the same for you. If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

Fulfilling your ambition will take sacrifice. While others are seeking immediate gratification, you keep hungry for your goal. While the others are out partying, you hit the books. While the others are wallowing in indulgence you hit the pavement. Do your time. It will be a lot easier if you keep that goal ahead of you, though.

• Proverbs 24:13-14 HCSB Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate; 14 realize that wisdom is the same for you. If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

Know when you are well-off. Don’t hop from thing to thing like a bird hopping from branch to branch. Be secure in your knowledge. Be satisfied with whatever condition God has given you. Work on it to do it the best you can but don’t be constantly seeking out new things without finishing what you are presently doing. Otherwise you’ll never be “home”.

• Proverbs 27:8 HCSB A man wandering from his home is like a bird wandering from its nest.

You need to realize that the fulfillment of your human desires will never bring lasting satisfaction. You are going to have to look elsewhere for that. Make the discovery and application of God’s will your ambition. Then you know that you will have God on your side and your heart will be able to know true contentment.

• Proverbs 27:20 HCSB Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and people's eyes are never satisfied.

When establishing goals and priorities in your life, remember that the selfish pursuit of things, of self-satisfaction will only lead to more and more conflict. True riches, lasting satiation of the soul comes from trusting the Master.

• Proverbs 28:25 HCSB A greedy person provokes conflict, but whoever trusts in the LORD will prosper.

When you constantly cry out for “More! More!” of this world’s pleasures, whether they be possessions, position, power or praise, you are a leech – a parasite. You are as lifeless as the grave, as empty as a barren womb, as dry as the desert and as insatiably destructive as the blazing fire. Greed will cause you to believe that you deserve more, that you are entitled and therefore the world should align itself in such a way as to satisfy you. But God blesses the cheerful giver, not the greedy taker.

• Proverbs 30:15-16 HCSB The leech has two daughters: Give, Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, "Enough!": 16 Sheol; a barren womb; earth, which is never satisfied with water; and fire, which never says, "Enough!"

There is nothing wrong with holding positions of power, of having authority or influence. The righteous wife of chapter thirty one takes care of her household in such a manner that it frees her husband to pursue these ambitions. But those positions must never take the central place of our heart. As long as we seek power in order to better serve then our ambitions are righteous and we will have God’s blessing. But as soon as we seek power for its own sake, we have strayed from the Way.

• Proverbs 31:23 HCSB Her husband is known at the city gates, where he sits among the elders of the land.