Godly Ambition

As a 16-year-old in Marseille, France, I surrendered my life to the call to missions.  Since that day, every major decision I've made has been for the purpose of reaching the nations. 

Fast forward 13 years.  When Daniel John Fergus Thornton flew down from Toronto to Chicago to meet me for the first time (we met on the Internet), I arranged for my closest friends to meet this suitor from the North.  A party of seven gathered at Lana’s for a baked ham and deep conversation.  In stereotypical fashion, we four ladies headed off to the kitchen to get dinner plated.  Dan stayed behind in the living room with Kirk and John, my two closest guy friends at the time.  Being a man of few words himself, Dan asked how they would describe me in two words.  Kirk didn’t bat an eye, “Fast and ambitious.”

The details of that night had faded from memory until recently, when I was discussing the subject of ambition with my friend Jen.  I was sharing with her my own desire to use my spiritual gift of teaching for the service of Christ and his church.  Drawing inspiration from sisters whose public ministry I've learned from, I aspire to broaden the scope of my impact for the glory of God.  These women have incredible influence, but they had to start somewhere.  And where they are today is the fruit of years of hard work – radio, print, and conference ministries didn’t all fall on their lap.  “Is it wrong,” I inquired, “for a woman to be ambitious? ”  Jen wouldn’t have any of it!  “Why would it be?  No one has ever challenged my husband, the CEO of his company, for pursuing his ambitions and achieving them?  Why should it be any different for us women?”

Teaching at our church's women's breakfast

Is it pride to put myself out there in order to achieve my goals?  As I searched my own heart on the matter, I remembered these words of the Apostle Paul:

For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation (Romans 15:18-20, emphasis added). 

Can you imagine anyone saying to Paul, “Woah, woah!  Slow down!  Why are you so ambitious?"  Absurd!  Of course, I’m no apostle, but I am a daughter of the King.  And like Paul, I am driven by a passion to fulfill the ministry of preaching the gospel of Christ by the power of the Spirit of God.

So, yes, I need to check myself and make sure that I’m not being motivated by pride.  If I seek the praises of men, I have my reward (Matthew 6:5).  But if what drives me is the glory of God and the joy of his people, then why not pursue the big dreams the Lord has laid on my heart?  What about you?  Do you have a godly ambition you're longing to pursue?  Join me!  May these words, also penned by the apostle Paul, be the cry of our hearts as we labour with all our might in service to our Master: “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-21)