Several years ago, I remember staring at one of my youngest son’s giant, broken Lego sets and secretly hoping to find a way out of “repairing” it. Although I didn’t have a hand in its original creation, I had previously performed emergency surgery. 

With this particular robot, machine, or {who knows what it was}–parts just seemed to consistently fall off!

So, I did what any good mom would do. I stared at the object, and I stared at the stray parts…for an inordinate amount of time! Did I mention this was a mega creation with lots–and lots–of pieces? After a quick assessment, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to simply connect a piece here or there. I would have to consult the original instructional manual, roll up my sleeves, and get to work.

As I first deconstructed the mega whatever it was, it became obvious that some parts had been misplaced originally-be it ever so slightly. No wonder the blasted thing was ALWAYS falling apart.

The thought of deconstructing the masterpiece in order to reconstruct it properly brought some anxiety to my little, no large, Lego lover. Secretly, I was enjoying being his hero as I “fixed” the problem.  I took off a piece here and then replaced it properly there, and all the while, I couldn’t escape the spiritual analogy that loomed.

I’ve tried {numerous times} to put pieces of my life together in ways that seemed to make sense. I’ve forgotten to consult God’s instruction manual and made a mess of things. I’ve ended up with pieces falling off, or apart, or appearing correct but not fitting just right, and then wrestled anxiety {like a mad woman} as spiritual deconstruction ultimately ensued.

But just as I had to take Lego pieces off the model to place them properly and thereby make the creation stronger, God has done that in my life, and I believe He desires to do that in your life, too. 

We have a deep longing that we have tried to fill with many things. That longing was created by God for God; Ecclesiastes 3:11 says we have eternity in our hearts, but we also have a socially acceptable sin of idolatry that diverts our longing from God and toward other things. 

A core truth is that we are searching for Someone, not something. Like the Lego structure, one piece wrongly placed impacts the entire structure. 

…

Ambition can impede our forward progress on our spiritual journey.

Webster’s defines ambition as a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. 

A major brand has made it their mission to capitalize on just doing it; in other words, they understand the inherent nature of our desire to do and achieve. 

When the why of our work is blurred, we get caught up in doing and forget who we are called to be. 

Ambition becomes the soft messaging of self-reliance. The question we need to consider today is what drives our ambition?

The world says he with the most toys wins, but what is the echo throughout scripture?

God-dependent ambition changes our way of work. 

—

Ecclesiastes 3 is the famous chapter about a time for everything. It is properly placed in this book of wisdom literature because our temporal minds need the reminder that we were made for something greater than the here and now. 

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, and a time to tear down and a time to build…

There is a time for everything, but this is not a list of marching orders to make everything happen in your timeframe. When we turn from God, we encounter toil. 

Ecclesiastes 3:9 says, What does the worker gain from his toil? Verse 11 goes on to say on of the big ideas of this series that God has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet [which is a contrasting conjunction] they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

There is an implication that we try, and oh, how much of my time I have invested attempting to lean on my own understanding. Which brings us back to toil. 

In Ecclesiastes 4:7, let’s explore this biblical idea of toil. Read verses 4-9. The original language suggests trouble and labor in the first instance in verse 8, and the second account references the one who labors or suffers. This is not the breakout session of life we want to sign up for. Right?

However, Ecclesiastes 4:9 gives us the why for work. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” Guess what? That is the same word used in verse 8. 

The gift of work and the why of our efforts should be the shared blessing and generosity of the community. 

We see that concept further played out in Ecclesiastes 11:1-2, 4-5

11:1 Ship your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.

2 Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
    or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

11:1–in a few days you may receive a return.

These are not odds we like to gamble with. We want to know that what we invest will be profitable for us.

Sometimes, we do this with an others-centered mindset, but is that our instinct?  We often trade the immediate for the ultimate. When we focus on our gain and independent successes, we shift the focus from the Provider to the provision. 

Philippians 2:3-4 instructs us to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves…look not only to our own interests but also to the interests of others.”

Here is a radical idea. Ambition is not our problem. To be clear, this word is not used in the original language of scripture. In Philippians 2:3, the word is rivalry, hence ambition; it is self-seeking and self-interest first. In Romans 15:20, we read, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Again, the original language does not use the word ambition, but a word meaning to love or seek after honor. 

When it is elevated above the Father, our relationship with ambition is where problems begin to mount. Work and ambition are gifts and opportunities from God, but when improperly used for personal gain, our life’s foundation crumbles.  The question we must ask ourselves is, where are we looking with our strong desire to do or to achieve something requiring determination and hard work? We will lose track of who we are, whose we are, and what we are called to if we get “caught up” in doing. When we fend for ourselves, which is a common trauma response for me, we create strife because we have turned from the Provider in search of the provision. 

Ecclesiastes 11:5 says we cannot understand the work of God. And all the people said, amen! But we know there is a time for everything and that the holder of everything is God. He is calling us back into dependency. 

Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”Dependency is turning toward God and working from that space. Self-reliance is turning away from God and moving in a direction that caters to the immediate over the ultimate.

Why is scripture clear about leaning not on our own understanding? We often miss the work of God because we are so caught up in the trajectory and results of our own work, which underscores the soft and socially-acceptable cultural messaging of self-reliance–also doing business as idolatry. Our call to work as if unto God and not unto man is in line with the core truth that we are longing for someone, friends, and we are not it, they are not it. Our work should contribute to generosity and community and not simply selfish gain as we climb some proverbial ladder of success. We have to keep one eye on now and one eye on eternity.

A few months ago, as I drove to Colorado with my family, I saw the subtle shift of the idolatry of ambition in my own life. I had an eye on now, but I forgot to remember eternity. I was listing off all the work I hoped to complete on our 72-hour vacation…

“In the next few days, I want to get the sermon written and finish a few book things.” I also said, “That might be overly ambitious of me.” The work wasn’t the problem. The way that motivated my work was. I had reduced the work to a checklist I wanted to accomplish, but I had failed to turn my eyes toward the Provider to supply all of my needs to accomplish the work. 

Matthew 16:26 says, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

To gain the whole world “means to win the world’s game by the world’s rules. It could be fulfilling every fleshly desire, conquering other men, winning earthly fame, or stealing wealth from one’s rivals through oppression, but it is all a losing strategy.” 1

“Ambition is viewed negatively when these goals are selfish or evil, and positively when they are directed towards building up the church or furthering the kingdom of God.”

God-dependent ambition looks to the needs of others for the sake of the common good and shifts our attention from the provision to the Provider. This resets the why of our work and influences the results of our work, which should ultimately be a gospel movement. 

Break up with the notion that ambition is bad and tune in to what motivates your work. When our why motivates our what, we are postured in a healthy position.

Friend, if you made it to the end of this writing, I invite you to join me for an email series called Twelve Days of Wisdom. In the email, I will briefly reflect on twelve wise concepts from my new book, Wisdom in the Weeds. You can sign up to receive the twelve emails here.

Until next time, keep pursuing Jesus. He’ll never steer you wrong!