The Danger of Selfish Ambition

If we understood just how high we already are in Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, then we would stop trying to climb and realize the only place we can go is down. (Christine Caine)

Selfish ambition can be a dangerous inhibitor to relationship with Jesus. Selfish ambition desires to grow the kingdom of self, fuelled by the praises of man and an ugly root of pride. As humans, we instinctively make choices that will help us to ascend, not descend.  

            Neurotypical human beings care about what other people think of them and spend a significant amount of energy tracking their relative status compared to other members of their group. When opportunities to increase status appear, most people will seize them. When given a choice between different alternatives, people will choose the option with the highest perceived status. (Kaufman, 44)

Before progressing further, the terms ascension and descension need to be defined to provide further clarity for this discussion. Ascension can be defined as the act of rising to an important position or a higher level. Descension can be defined as the act of moving downward, dropping or falling. For this discussion, ascension and descension can be observed as rising or falling on a continuum of social status and prestige within the world.

When setting goals in my own life, I confess that my goal selection is often motivated by a root of selfish ambition, a desire to see my social status improve, and my reputation grow. Whether it be a medal on the track, my GPA, or a prestigious award, there is often this underlying desire to grow my own name, rather than the name of Jesus. When making materialistic purchases, how often are those purchases motivated by the desire to be desired by others? Materialism and selfish ambition are fairly interrelated in this way. Even words can be laced with selfish ambition, anytime words are used to slander another, or make a boast of self, it is rooted in a desire to ascend, at the expense of another. To be brutally honest, even as a write this blog, I am aware of a selfish motivation for finishing it, which would desire others to read it, and admire it, and perhaps even praise me for it. The Scriptures provide a stern warning against selfish ambition.

            Do nothing from selfish ambition 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. (Philippians 2:3)

            Here is something I love about Jesus. He never asks me to do anything that He hasn’t done. The verses that follow describe how Jesus personally embodied this command within His own life.

            Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

            It is inconceivable for the human mind to comprehend what it would be like for the creator God to become a servant to His own creation. How could the hands that sculpted mankind out of the clay, allow for that sculpture to pierce His perfect hands and feet while being nailed to a cross. How could I understand the humility required, for the one who rides on the wings of the wind (Psalm 104:3) to ride on a donkey into Jerusalem just a few days before He was crucified. How could the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10), choose to leave this earth in possession of nothing?

As a disciple of Jesus, I am called to follow His example here on earth. This means rejecting my instinctual desire to pursue a life of ascension, and rather making the effort to choose the narrow path of descension here on earth, following in the footsteps of Jesus.

The result of this choice is a beautiful paradox, where my descension results in ascension within the Kingdom of God. Notice how God the Father blesses Jesus for His willingness to become humbled as a servant, and obedient to the point of death.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

            Although I’m sure there are more, here are three incentives for choosing a life of descension here on earth. First, it means we will be greater in heaven. Secondly, it concomitantly results in deeper intimacy with Jesus. Third, it alleviates the pressure of needing to become something to be something.

How can I become greater in heaven?

While Jesus was hanging out with His disciples one day, there arose a discussion about which of them was the greatest. Jesus responded that it was the least among them who is great. (Luke 9:46-48) Therefore, for Christians who are competitive (I’m preaching to myself here) and want to become great in the Kingdom of heaven, our competition is not who can become the greatest, but who can become the least while here on earth.

How can descension result in deeper intimacy with Jesus?

The Bible is very clear that God opposes the proud. (James 4:6-7) Two people in opposition to each other typically don’t experience much intimacy. I would argue that ascension, rooted in selfish ambition, is linearly correlated with pride. Which would therefore result in the concomitant opposition of God towards that pride, and a decrease in intimacy between the individual and God. On the flip-side, as we descend, we become closer and closer to Jesus. It's interesting to observe the types of people that Jesus chose to spend time with while here on earth. Jesus spent most of his time with social rejects, those who would have been at the bottom of the rung on the social hierarchy. Within Jewish society, tax collectors were hated by the Jewish people, because they had chosen to side with the Romans. Jesus chose Matthew who was a tax collector as one of his disciples. (Matthew 9:9-13) He also had dinner at the home of Zacchaeus the tax collector. (Luke 19:1-10) Both Matthew and Zacchaeus, who Jesus intentionally spent quality time with would have inhabited one of the lowest places within Jewish society. Jesus is drawn to those who are the social outcasts and rejects; those who have descended to the bottom of the social ladder. This should be encouragement to seek to descend here on earth, to experience deeper intimacy with the heart of Jesus.

How can descension here on earth alleviate the pressure to become something?

It can be so easy to pursue accolades, achievements and prestige with the desire for other people to admit that we have become something. This drive needs to be replaced by the paradigm that we have already become everything that we could ever imagine and more, because we are in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures say that we are currently seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

What a remarkable revelation it is to comprehend that I am currently seated beside Jesus in heaven. If only this truth could settle itself in the centre of my heart, perhaps I could then relinquish my pursuits of the lesser accolades this world has to offer. Indeed, my pursuits of worldly successes in contrast to my present status in Christ, can be likened to an Olympic Gold Medalist pursuing a participation ribbon at a local track meet, or a Stanley Cup Champion pursuing a beer league banner. The greatest accomplishments in this world are meaningless in comparison to what I have already received in Christ Jesus. I therefore have no need to become something here on earth to be something in heaven. I have already become everything in Christ Jesus and can therefore relax in the relief of relinquishing my need to be something here on earth.

The Christian life consists of sitting with Christ. We begin our spiritual life by resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. That rest is the source of our strength for a consistent and unfaltering walk in the world. (Nee, 78)

            I will bring this discussion to a close with an image that has been periodically crossing my mind this past year. Within this image are thousands of ladders, some higher than others, each leading to platforms, which then connect to a ladder leading to another platform. There is always another ladder to be climbed. Climbing these ladders are thousands and thousands of people, each person is climbing frantically, pushing aside others in their upward pursuit. Here’s the catch, all the ladders lead nowhere. I then see myself, climbing on some ladder, leading nowhere. I then see Jesus, standing on the ground below all the ladders, asking me to come down, and be with Him.

If we understood just how high we already are in Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, then we would stop trying to climb and realize the only place we can go is down. (Christine Caine)

            I believe that we have all chosen to climb a ladder, or ladders. There are ladders for sports, ladders for academics, ladders for business and materialism; and the list goes on and on. Each of these ladders leads to a platform that provides a certain level of prestige, a certain level of social status. However, the reality is that there is never any platform that is high enough to satisfy the human heart.

            I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they’d see it wasn’t the answer to anything. (Jim Carrey)

            It is easy to buy the lie that ascension via social status, prestige and the applause of others, will somehow fulfill the deepest longing of our hearts. Speaking from personal experience, I confess that winning a gold medal, hanging a degree on the wall and winning the most prestigious award in our athletic department, has most definitely NOT fulfilled the deepest longing of my heart.

In our heart of hearts, what does humanity desire most desperately?

            I have sometimes wondered if the greatest desire of man is to be known and loved anyway. (Donald Miller)

            I believe the deepest desire of man is to be in relationship with Jesus. For only Jesus has known us fully, (Psalm 139:1) and has loved us anyway. (Matthew 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24, John 18-20) If the road to fulfilment is in relationship with the person of Jesus, and if Jesus experiences the deepest intimacy with those at the bottom of the social ladder, it can be logically concluded that the road to fulfilment is found in a life of descension, in pursuit of intimacy, with the person of Jesus, who has known us in all of our shortcomings, and loved us anyways.

References

1.     Crossway, and Marquis Laughlin. ESV Bible. New Testament. Oasis Audio, 2003. 

2.     KAUFMAN, JOSH. Personal Mba. MANJUL PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2023. 

3. Miller, Donald. Searching for God Knows What. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2010.

4.  Nee, Watchman. Sit, Walk, Stand. Tyndale House, 1977.