Ambition — Virtue or Sin?The drive that builds a life, and the one that ruins it

A word with a bad name

Most of us grew up being told that ambition is healthy. Parents want ambitious children, companies hire ambitious people, and the person with no ambition is pitied. But for most of its history the word has had a bad reputation, and it earned it.

The English word comes from the Latin ambire, to go around, to go both ways. It described the Roman candidate who went around canvassing for votes and would face whichever way he had to face to get them. In the Latin mind, ambition was campaigning for promotion at any cost. Call a man ambitious and you were not paying him a compliment.

One missionary leader went further and said that in a Christian, ambition is always sinful, and most inexcusable of all in a minister. That goes too far, as we will see. But it is not far from the Bible’s own emphasis: most of the times Scripture names ambition, it is sounding a warning.

A world that runs on it

You do not need a Bible to see what ambition does when it is let loose. Turn on the news. The world system is dominated by carnal ambition, pride, and greed, and it says so about itself: self-assertion and ambition are the hallmarks of success, and we are trained to admire them from childhood.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

1 John 2:16 · NASB95

A Scottish commentator observed two centuries ago that the most savage animals do not destroy so many of their own kind to satisfy their hunger as man destroys his fellow man to satisfy his ambition, his revenge, and his greed. Nothing since has proved him wrong.

And the ending is always the same. Ambition may finally gain a crown, but the crown is stuffed with thorns. It is a terrible master. Blind ambition has caused people to sell their souls, compromise their convictions, sacrifice their character, and leave behind them a trail of broken families and friends. Jesus asked the question that ambition never stops to ask: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The oldest sin in the story

Ambition is not a modern invention. It is older than the human race.

It was ambition that got Satan thrown out of heaven, Adam and Eve thrown out of the garden, and Judas into hell. The root is the same in all three: they wanted a place that was not theirs to take. “You shall not covet” is the last of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:17), but breaking it is the first step to breaking the other nine.

Satan has not changed his approach. When he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, his last offer was all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Matthew 4:8-9). He tempts you the same way: to reach for something God may well intend to give you, but to take it now, your way, on your terms, and for yourself.

Who is the greatest?

If anyone should have been free of it, it was the twelve men who walked with Jesus. They were not. James and John came to Him with a request: “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory” (Mark 10:37). They even brought their mother to ask for them (Matthew 20:20-21). When the other ten heard, they were indignant, and not out of holiness: they wanted those seats too. The argument over who was the greatest ran all the way to the table of the Last Supper, the night before the cross (Luke 22:24).

It was ugly pride, and Jesus did not let it pass. But notice what He did not say. He did not tell them to stop wanting to be great. He told them how greatness is actually reached.

⁴³But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:43-45 · NASB95

And in the end the ambition was overcome. Their love for Christ grew larger than their worldly ambition. John, who once wanted the seat at Christ’s right hand, later wrote a whole Gospel without once using his own name.

Selfish ambition in the Scriptures

When the New Testament names ambition as sin, it uses a pointed word, and it never puts that word in good company.

Look at where selfish ambition keeps turning up: next to jealousy. The two travel together. Selfish ambition wants to rise, and jealousy resents whoever is already up there. Selfishness breeds jealousy, jealousy breeds strife, strife breeds conflict, and the unity of a family, a church, or a company is gone.

It can hide in the most spiritual places, too. The men Paul describes in Philippians 1:15-17 were preaching the true gospel. The message was right and the motive was wrong. Selfish ambition may be the ugliest motive of all, because it can wear a pulpit robe.

That is why Scripture will not have an ambitious man lead the church. An elder is to be gentle, peaceable, and free from the love of money (1 Timothy 3:3), and shepherds are to serve eagerly, not for gain and not lording it over the flock (1 Peter 5:2-3). Ambition for office corrupts; desire for service purifies. John names one church leader who “loves to be first among them” (3 John 9), and the fruit was slander, exclusion, and division. Be wary, too, of the leader who says God has given him a great vision that requires your time and your money. Very often it is personal ambition dressed in spiritual language.

Then is all ambition sin?

No. The Bible does not condemn ambition as such; it condemns ambition for yourself. Read the verse at the top of this page again: “Are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them.” The words that matter are “for yourself.” Selfishness is what corrupts ambition. The drive itself is not what God forbids.

The apostle Paul was as ambitious a man as ever lived. He simply had the right object. He uses the Greek verb for ambition three times, and each time it points away from himself. He also calls it a fine thing to aspire to shepherd God’s people.

Jesus Himself blessed a consuming ambition: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). Lucifer was power hungry, the rich fool was possession hungry, and the world is praise hungry. Hunger is not the problem. The problem is being hungry for the wrong thing.

Nor does the Bible admire the man with no drive at all. Solomon watched people compete and saw envy behind it all, and then he looked at the opposite extreme: “The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh” (Ecclesiastes 4:5). Laziness is a slow, comfortable road to self-destruction. Taking the selfishness out of ambition does not mean taking the effort out of life: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3:23).

And a right goal does not sanctify wrong means. Jacob wanted the right thing, the birthright and the blessing of God, and he went after it by manipulation and deceit (Genesis 25:29-34; Genesis 27:18-29). He got what he wanted, and then spent twenty years reaping what he had sown before God broke him. Even a spiritual ambition is dangerous when it reaches for God’s things with the devices of the flesh.

One ambition, three dimensions

So what does a sanctified ambition look like? Paul spells it out in two verses.

⁹Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 · NASB95

1. 1

   It goes high: the highest goal

   “To be pleasing to Him.” That phrase separates spiritual ambition from sinful ambition. Paul never sought great things for himself; he always sought great things for God. He did not care what men thought of him (1 Corinthians 4:3-4), and he said that if he were still trying to please men, he would not be a bond-servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10). He had one audience, and one Master.

2. 2

   It goes wide: the same here and hereafter

   “Whether at home or absent.” In this body or out of it, on earth or in heaven, the ambition never changes. That is the test of a sanctified ambition: if you will have to abandon all your objectives the moment you arrive in heaven, you have missed something. What you pursue here should be what you will go on pursuing forever.

3. 3

   It goes deep: the right motive

   “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” This is what drives it. Every believer will give an account, and what was done for self will burn like wood, hay, and straw (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). What was done to please Him will last. Paul was not driven by the crowd, by his rivals, or by success, but by the day he would stand before his Lord.

Where does your ambition stand?

Most people know roughly how driven they are. The harder question is where the drive is pointed. So measure yourself on two scales: how strong the drive is, and whose glory it serves. Answer honestly; nobody sees this but you and God.

No test can read a heart. Only God can do that (Jeremiah 17:10). Use this as a mirror, not a verdict, and ask Him to show you what it cannot: “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (Psalm 139:23).

How to redirect your ambition

If the test made you uncomfortable, good. The cure is not to stop caring or stop working. You do not kill the drive; you change its Master. This is how that happens in practice.

1. 1

   Call it what God calls it

   Selfish ambition is not a personality type, a leadership style, or a healthy drive that just needs managing. James calls it earthly, natural, and demonic, and tells the one who has it not to lie against the truth (James 3:14-15). Confess it to God as sin, by name (1 John 1:9). You cannot redirect what you still admire.

2. 2

   Change your audience

   Before any decision, ask one question: who am I trying to impress? If the honest answer is people, you are serving the wrong master (Galatians 1:10). Begin the day by praying, “Lord, whatever I do today, let it please You,” and end it by asking whether it did.

3. 3

   Put your plans on the altar

   Keep your goals, but hold them with an open hand. Write them down, write “if the Lord wills” over them, and mean it (James 4:13-15). It is fine to have goals, dreams, and direction, as long as all of it is surrendered to Christ, who can do with it as He pleases. When a door closes, thank Him for it instead of forcing it open.

4. 4

   Rejoice when others win

   Jealousy is selfish ambition’s twin, and rejoicing starves it. When a colleague, a rival, or another church succeeds, pray for them by name and say something good about them in public. Paul did it about men who were trying to hurt him: “Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice” (Philippians 1:18). “Rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15).

5. 5

   Take the lower seat on purpose

   Jesus told His hearers to take the last place and let the host move them up (Luke 14:10-11). Practice it. Do some service every week that nobody will ever credit to you (Matthew 6:3-4). Let others speak first and take the credit. The church runs on quiet, self-forgetting people who are content in a small sphere and free from self-seeking ambition. Become one of them.

6. 6

   Choose depth over breadth

   Ambition pushes toward whatever is biggest and fastest. Resist it. Be driven by depth rather than breadth, by excellence rather than success, by quality rather than quantity. Burnout rarely comes from hard work; it comes from personal ambition and unrealistic expectations of what you might achieve, instead of trust in the sovereignty of God.

7. 7

   Put yourself under someone

   Many gifted people never reach maturity because they never learn to slay their pride, their ambition, and their need to be preeminent, and never learn to submit to anyone else’s leadership. Place yourself under godly authority and invite correction (1 Peter 5:5). An ambition that nobody is allowed to question is already out of control.

8. 8

   Let God humble you

   Sometimes He does the work Himself: a lost position, a failed plan, a season of suffering. Do not waste it. Through it God burns away pride and ambition and makes you more like His Son. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6). The exalting is His to do, and so is the timing.

9. 9

   Live for the judgment seat

   Once a week, look at your calendar and your goals and ask what will still stand when your work is tested by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13-14). Keep that, and drop what will burn. Do not swing to the other extreme, either: the cure for selfish ambition is not idleness but redirected effort, all of it now aimed at pleasing Him.