Selfless Ambition

What does a Christian look like? That's a question we would all answer a little differently. But I want to take a swing at it. When I think about my spirituality and my walk with God I see some deficiencies. It should come as no shock to you that I am not perfect (particularly if you know me well). But I try. I'm like many others who are trying to follow after the Spirit and let God make me what He wants me to be. But sometimes I blow it. I share all this because I think that you may experience the same struggles I do. At times I am confident in my effort to serve and please our God, not because of my own goodness, but His righteousness working in me. I feel confident that I'm pleasing Him and then I read passages like Philippians 2:3-4;

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

I once saw a guy get punched in the stomach so hard that he got sick, pretty gross right? Well, that's how I feel when I read this passage. There's a sort of anxious nausea that flares up every time I hear "Do nothing." You see, "nothing" is a tall order. Because "nothing" means "nothing" and I'm afraid that sometimes I do "something" instead of "nothing." Yet, God is calling me (and you) to put to death selfish ambition. That's what James tells us, and he tells us why, because "where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there will be disorder and every vile practice.(Jas 3:16)" Can that be right? I mean, "every vile practice", really? How is that even possible? It's possible because "selfishness" is the gateway drug in the Pharmacy of sin. Selfishness is the seed that produces a harvest of rebellion.

For most of us, the word selfishness immediately brings to mind our relationship with God. Sometimes in an effort to defend ourselves we reminisce on all the things we've done or not done because we love God, and we feel pretty confident. But these passages that we've noticed actually address selfishness among us and our brethren...and everyone else. We're told that jealousy and selfish ambition are "earthly", "unspiritual", and "demonic" (Jas 3:14,15). But why is this such a big deal? Doesn't selfishness really just affect me? Quite the opposite: Just consider all the things done because of selfishness:

The very first sin resulted from selfishness (Gen 3). The devil decieved Eve, but how did he do it? He appealed to her selfishness; "...your eyes will be opened and you will be like God..." And what was the result? Sin.

David's sin with Bathsheba, lying prophets and priests, idolatry, and murder have all followed from selfishness.

Then we come to the Gospels. Here we read of a beautiful life of a wonderful man. We learn that this man is God. He is loving, righteous and kind. He is meek and helpful. And He is betrayed. One of His own friends turns on him and literally "sells Him"" for thirty pieces of silver. And why? Because of selfishness. The greatest travesty of justice in human history followed and soon darkness covered the land...all because of selfishness.

Friends, this is what selfishness, jealousy, rivalry and envy accomplish. Now, I realize that we don't start with the thought of becoming a traitor. We start by badmouthing a friend to make ourselves look good. We start when we get irritatated at the accomplishments of others, and we start when we constantly compare ourselves and our children to others, to see how we measure up. Why do we do these things? We have a preoccupation with self. Let's face it, we're in love with ourselves. We think we are awesome. I mean, think about yourself for a second; you like all the cool movies, you have an ecclectic taste in music, a great sense of humor, you're very helpful, your a good listener......is this starting to sound like a horoscope? It should, because astrologists make a trade out of appealing to our obsession with ourselves. In fact, our whole society is geared towards rabid individualism. We have made a virtue out of "taking care of number one."

But it should not be this way. God has called us to trade in our selfish ambition for something more noble. Something more useful, and something we humans have struggled with throughout our long and sordid history. Whether it's Cain defensively asking; "Am I my brother's keeper?" Or a husband and wife deciding to deceive the people of God and lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5), we have seen far too many examples of selfish ambition. So, what does God want? What does He expect from us? He expects us to be strange...peculiar...different. But not wierd for the sake of wierd. Rather, like a pebble dropped in a pond causing ripples to ebb beyond our sight, God wants a change that seems so small, but leaves evidence long after it happens. He wants us to move from wanting to giving, from having to helping, from selfish to.....self - less. He wants us to begin caring about each other the way we care about ourselves...on second thought...scratch that. He wants us to consider others "more significant than ourselves." But how is that possible? Should we just start to hate ourselves and give all of our stuff away? Or how do we measure this? Should we make a list of everything we want and do for ourselves and a list of what we do for others, making sure the latter is longer than the former? We could do that, but as we will see tomorrow; doing that may actually be a symptom of the problem and not a cure.

Tomorrow we are going to see that a decision to be selfless instead of selfish may be like putting a "Band-aid on a bullet wound."

Please come back tomorrow and check out part 2 of "Selfless Ambition."

-JC3