DO NOTHING OUT OF SELFISH AMBITION OR VAIN CONCEIT
From The HeartPublish date: 04/22/2001
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any
If you want to make a success of your life, you must have visions and goals. It is good to have hopes, dreams, aspirations and a purpose, because without a vision, you have no direction, you go nowhere and you achieve nothing. If you aim for nothing—you are bound to hit it! However, your goals should not be met at the expense of others. Your ambitions should not result in the destruction of other people. God's way is to think of others, putting them before ourselves—to be a giver not a taker. The world's way is one of selfishness. If you are selfish—thinking only of yourself—you will end up hurting people and in the end you will destroy your own life. The Bible is clear—selfish ambition is a work of the flesh. It springs from your old unrenewed nature. You need to allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in your life to where your desires are only toward the things of God and your ambitions are directed toward the building of God's kingdom and the edification of God's people.
The Bible says that we should do nothing out of selfish ambition—thinking only of our own desires and interests—or out of pride and vain conceit. Pride is a destructive force. It causes us to put our needs and feelings above the needs of others. It causes us to focus only on ourselves rather than the plan of God and we end up missing God's wonderful plan for our lives. Selfishness makes you shortsighted. You don't see the big picture—you miss God's eternal purpose. Selfish ambition divides and separates us. If the devil can divide us, he can bring strife and every evil work into our midst. As believers, we should be one in spirit and purpose. We need to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself to take upon Himself the appearance of man and to die upon the cross. Because He did this, God has highly exalted Him, giving Him the Name above all names. Every knee will bow before that Name and every tongue confess that He is Lord!
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that
Selfish ambition goes hand-in-hand with envy. When we are envious and jealous of others and when our ambitions are selfish, we will be