Ambition (Part 1)
"Ambition" is one of the main traits which characterizes the milennials (generation born between 1978 and 2000). Unfortunately, this ambitious generation is also characterized with being directionless and clueless in regards to execution. In other words, they really want to get somewhere but don't know how to get there. They value success, but they just don't know how to achieve it.
Christians should be characterized by an ambition which achieves success. The truth is that there is such a thing as Christian success; but for that success to be achieved ambition must be rightly directed. The problem is that many of us are clueless. We don't know what Christian success looks like, and we don't know how to apply our Christian ambition. And what results is frustration and discouragement - spiritual stress: the feeling of guilt, shame, inadequacy, and failure.
Fortunately, we can know what Christian success looks likes and how to direct our Christian ambition toward achieving that end. Consider Moses' prayer in Exodus 33:13 - "If I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight."
What is Christian success? It is finding favor in God's eyes. The Hebrew word translated "favor" is also the word "grace." In other words, Christian success means finding grace. What is grace? It is a generous, benevolent, undeserved gift. Thus, spiritual success is simply receiving God's personal gift - His gift of love, mercy, kindness, compassion, etc. Christian success is not something we earn. It is a gift by which God calls us into relationship with Himself, not because we are inherently loveable but because He is inherently loving.
It is amazing how difficult it is for most of us to truly, fully, and consistently accept this truth. Our human nature craves self-merited, self-actualized success. We want for our achievements to be based on what we ourselves have done. But we must be diligent to remind ourselves that spiritual success is not based on what we do; rather it's based on what God has done. Our success hangs on God's grace.
Having received God's grace, Moses prays: "let me know Your ways that I may know You." Understanding the amazing gift he had received from God, Moses applies his ambition simply toward knowing God better.
Christian success is growing your personal knowledge of God. This does not mean filling your head with facts about God. What it means is growing in your relationship with God by filling your heart with the truth about God. Thus, our ambition should be to know God better. Our ambition should be directed toward personally knowing God more and more.
How is that accomplished? It is by learning God's ways. We grow in our intimate knowledge of God by growing our knowledge of His ways. What are His ways? God answers that in Exodus 34:6-7 - "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished..."
God's ways define who He is. He is the compassionate, gracious, patient, loving God who forgives the repentant. He the is holy and righteous Judge who punishes the unrepentant. That is who He is. Those are His ways.
In order to know God more and more, we must focus our ambition on better understanding God's compassion, grace, patience, love and forgiveness. In order to know God in deeper and richer ways, we must direct our ambition toward gaining greater insight into God's holiness and righteousness.
Moses closes this part of his prayer by saying, "So that I may find favor in Your sight." In essence what Moses is saying is: "Lord, as a humble recipient of Your grace, please show me even more grace by revealing more of Yourself to me so that I may better serve You." This is what Christian ambition looks likes. It is desiring that our lives be favorable and pleasing to God. But here's the thing: applying our ambition and achieving Christian success is only possible in, by, with, and through God's grace.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:9 that our ambition should be to please the Lord. Our goal should be to honor and glorify God. Our desire should be to serve God as a grateful and humble servant. That's the kind of life that is favorable to God. That is the kind of life that is truly successful; but that spiritual success is achieved only in, by, with, and through God's grace.
Don't fall into the trap of believing that you have to be good enough in order to find favor in God's sight. Don't be victimized by the legalistic notion that pleasing God has anything to do with how hard you try. Avoid the spiritual stress that comes from feeling guilty and inadequate because of your shortcomings before God.
If you want to experience Christian success, you must embrace and rest in grace. That means embracing and resting in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is through receiving the gospel that we receive grace. It is through embracing the gospel that we embrace grace. It is by resting in the gospel that we rest in grace.
If you desire Christian success, you must echo Moses' words: "Let me know Your ways that I may know You." That means turning to the gospel because nothing reveals God's ways and who He is more than the gospel. Nothing reveals God's ways more than the life, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. Nothing reveals who God is more than the loving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Nothing reveals God's compassion, grace, patience, love, forgiveness, and holiness more than the gospel.
If you find yourself spiritually stressed, it may be that you have had the wrong ambition. It may be that you have been striving toward the wrong kind of success. It may be that you have been relying on your effort. If that's you, may the teaching of Exodus 33:13 free you to experience God's grace so that you may rightly apply your ambition and experience Christian success.
In awe of Jesus,
Pastor Rick
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