Ambition is a desire, drive, hunger, or deep longing for something.

This “drive” is different from the experience we seek. For example:

A desire to visit the French Alps is different from hiking Monte Blanc.
A drive to climb the corporate ladder is different from being a CEO.
A hunger for tacos is different from enjoying a tortilla.
A longing for intimacy is different from practicing trust.

Ambition and its goals are obscured by distance, time, knowledge etc.

This “obscuring” is good when it fosters innovation, problem solving, and leadership. It is part of our God given passion to create. We see a rainbow and wonder where it lands.

As we approach success; the obscured ambition progressively aligns with the goal. When success is achieved it is difficult to discern between passion and pleasure. Consider the above illustration on tacos: when our hunger brings us to the moment of “crunch”, the result is either disappointment or satisfaction.

Even in ideal situations the moment is short lived. In the law of diminishing returns, the satisfaction of tacos eventually fades, and we are off to the next goal. Life is full of these micro-goals. Short moments that reflect something bigger. All of life’s pursuits (from the mundane or desires for beauty, order and love) experience this evolution in variant ways.

Problems arise when we mistake a micro-goal for something sustainable. These micro-goals might be good, but they are only temporary. Ex: thinking the taco will solve hunger forever. It will feel real for a moment, but the benefits will dissolve.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. - Isaiah 40:8

When God slips beyond preeminent in life, then good things (food, family, work, money, health, etc.) prove to be unsustainable substitutes to our deeper desires for love, peace, joy, beauty, rest, etc.. Their capacity to satisfy our ambitions eventually fades and we will feel lost or abandoned. The result is an endless pursuit of untethered ambitions.

Our ambition for excellence will mirror the object of our adorations.

“The worth and excellence of a soul is measured by the object of its desire.” - Henry Scougal

We have two choices: Self-Governance or Submission

In self-governance: our experience (feelings) dictates the narrative. Much like navigating a ship by clouds. In this case loss is differed. The ceiling is measured by what we bring to the table.
In submission we align ambition with external truth. This requires loss. Like steering through a storm. The ceiling is measured by the truth.

Submission exchanges instant for sustainable. It’s called the “Already and Not Yet”.

The Already and Not Yet

By fixing our daily endeavors to our eternal inheritance we can experience joy at the beginning and end of our ambitions. Its a surrender of our wishes for God’s story. This is how Jesus taught us to pray saying: “Father, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. - Matthew 6:10

Seek God, He will tune your heart’s desire to his heart (Psalm 37).

Submitting ambition (for success, love, etc.) to a gospel narrative does two things.

As mentioned above, it aligns our daily ambitions to something external and sustainable. This gives us assurance that change always has a good purpose.
We are freed to embrace risk. Ex: Imagine you knew 100% that you would win the lottery in 10 years. Think of how this would impact your present ambitions. You would experience tremendous freedom to win, fail, love, suffer, repent and walk the variant micro goals with confidence.

EITHER WAY - CHANGE IS COMING (in work, family, life, etc.)

Change impacts us, our communities, and all the events along life’s path. It’s a choice between the illusion of control or submission.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Joyful Ambition