Ambition can be good or bad, depending on whether it is self-focused or God-focused. The dictionary definition: “An excessive desire for honor, power, or wealth.” Or, more neutrally: “A desire to achieve a particular end.”

Selfish Ambition

We’ve all seen selfish ambition. A co-worker that only wants promotions and doesn’t care who gets in the way. An actress who wants fame through magazine covers and leading roles, and schemes to get it. A politician who sells votes to get on a ramp for higher office. Or. Or. Or.

There are many examples in the Bible. Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3, Daniel 4:30). Herod (Acts 12:21-23). Pharisees (e.g. Matthew 6:2).

Selfish ambition does NOT please God. Nebuchadnezzar was driven away for seven years to eat grass like cattle (Daniel 4:31-32). Herod was eaten by worms and died (Acts 12:23). Pharisees, by seeking and getting their rewards from men, had their reward in full (and not from God).

But you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. (Jeremiah 45:5)

Sanctified Ambition

For Christians, believers in Christ, we are to make our ambition to please God.

We also have as our ambition … to be pleasing to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:9)

We are to hunger and thirst for righteousness. (Matthew 5:6)

This does not mean we cannot seek specific work, for example 1 Timothy 3:1, but our motive is key.

The Lord … will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

In whatever path we take, our ambition must be to please the Lord. And whatever God gives us, we must keep our goal to please Him.

And we know that the Lord will reward us.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

We [Christians] 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 [worthless]. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

Examine Ourselves

We need to routinely examine our motives. Are we doing something for a selfish reason or to please the Lord? We should pray that the Lord will make our intentions clear to ourselves. If they are selfish, we must confess our sin.

As we go through our days, we can ask the Lord: “Does this (thought, plan, action) please You?” And then decide accordingly.

Father, please help us make pleasing You our ambition.

The world is a mess!

Stay tuned.

God’s righteous judgment is coming

He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed. (Acts 17:31)

In the meantime, TRUST

The Judge of all the earth will deal justly. (Genesis 18:25)

Know that the timing of judgment is God’s. “He has fixed a day….”

For His own sovereign reasons, He is letting the wheat (good seed) and the tares (bad seed) grow up together.

Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:30)

In the meantime, KNOW

Know that God is God, and we are not!

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways … For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

In the meantime, PRAY

Pray that our country would see our sin and repent. Pray for revival. If you are watching specific people, pray that they would see the truth about themselves and about God. Pray for their salvation. Pray that God is glorified.

And we should pray for ourselves. Pray that our trust in Almighty God grows. Pray that we recognize our own sins and confess. Pray about how how to pray. Pray that we honor God with our lives.

Lord Jesus, come!

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

This is an awesome promise from Almighty God who cannot lie and who fulfills ALL His promises, including this one. He will work together for good all things …

But, First, Are You Included?

But first, are you included in this promise? The promise is conditional.

Do you love God?

Are you called by God according to His purpose?

If so

If you are included in His promise, then whatever (WHATEVER) comes your way, bad or good, God works it for good for you.

Silver Lining

Bad things at the moment. Good things ultimately.

I’ve heard it called “blessings in disguise.” The temporal view of being affected by sin and evil is never a blessing. Sin and evil are truly bad. But, God turns the sin/evil (or apparent good) touching us into good.

We are told to be joyful with various trials. We are told that when we are persecuted, we are blessed.

We must learn to look at events with a long view. Perhaps, a much longer view. God is the only One with eternal perspective, but we can try.

Give Thanks

The bad things that happen to us are, well, bad. We shouldn’t try to redefine them. Bad is bad. Evil is evil.

But, as Christians, we MUST look beyond the event to our faithful, loving sovereign. We must believe Him. Not just believe in Him, but believe what He says.

So we can indeed give Him thanks in everything, knowing He is in control and that He is working this event into good for us. Give thanks in the good. Give thanks in the bad, knowing He keeps His promises.

East River 2018, Harry Durgin

The world situation is sobering. Murder. Violence. “Smash and Grab.” Car hijackings. Abductions. Sex trafficking. Thefts of all sorts. Arson. Cheating. Lying. Slander. And on and on. And on.

God warned us that this was coming.

But remember this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. (2 Timothy, 3:1-5)

I have to be careful that I not sink into depression about the state of my country. I have to be mindful that I not focus on how it used to be, comparing it to now, and imaging a horrible future.

Instead, I must talk to myself using God’s word.

God warned us, so I should praise Him that His word is coming to pass.

God is the righteous judge, so I should praise Him that He will justly judge evil doers at His appointed time.

God is for us (His saved children), so I should praise Him that He will be with us and never leave us.

God told us that all evil will be destroyed, that death will be defeated, that He will dry our every tear, and that His righteousness wins. YAY!

Praise Almighty God.

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Talking God’s word to yourself isn’t the only thing to do, of course. God may call you for some sort of action. And we all have responsibilities to Him. But correctly talking to yourself is fundamental.

Drifters Heart of Hope, Horse Rescue, Franktown, Colorado

God is Faithful

The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:4)

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. (Revelation 19:11)

Saving Faith.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Sanctifying Faith

God has allotted to each a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3)

Christ Prays about ouf Faith

But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.. (Luke 22:32)

Levels of Faith

Weak faith. (Romans 14:1)

Little faith. (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8 17:20)

Great faith. (Matthew 8:10, 15:28)

Heroes of faith. (Hebrews 11)

Our Responsibility to Increase our Faith

Pray!

Lord, increase my faith!

Learn.

Faith is built on fact, revealed through God’s word. Faith is based on our belief in Jesus Christ and on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:5)

Practice.

Faith reveals itself in action.

… the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5)

The work of faith… (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

Be faithful in the little things and the hard things will become easier.

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. (Luke 16:10)

God rewards faith

And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ (Luke 19:17)

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

Pray!

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Father, thank You for saving faith and for sanctifying us. It is impossible to please You without faith (Hebrews 11:6), so please increase our faith. Please help us be conscious of You–who You are and what You do–throughout our lives, and to act in steadfast faith.

Female Black Swallowtail; MegRichardsPhotography.com

Believers* will live forever where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). We will be included in heaven. (See Excluded.)

As we learn something about what that means and rejoice in hope (Romans 12:12), thrill follows.

Living where righteousness dwells means we live with God, we’ve been glorified (Romans 8:30), made perfect (Hebrews 12:23), and presented holy and blameless to the Father by Christ (Colossians 1:22).

We will see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

There is no sin where righteousness dwells. No sin in actions. No sin in words. No sin in motives. No sin in heart or mind.

We’ll be in the assembly of the righteous (Psalm 1:5).

Unimaginable.

But true.

Think about it. Be grateful! Rejoice!

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*Those who have repented and believe in Jesus Christ, having received Christ as Lord and Savior. For Old Testament saints, who have repented and believed in God.

Excluded

Have you ever been excluded from a group or event? Exclusion can be enormously painful.

As shattering as that is, being shut out from heaven is infinite and permanent. Alas!

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (Psalm 1:5)

[The wicked will be thrown] out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)

God’s Invitation

But you don’t have to be excluded. You don’t have to be shut out. God invites you.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. (Revelation 22:17)

Believe in Christ Jesus and be saved. Be included.

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Next week’s post has some joys of inclusion!

Harry Durgin Facebook

Apostle Paul told the Corinthians to examine themselves to see if they were in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). How do we do that, and how do we help others do that?

What is Saving Faith?

These have been written [by John in his gospel] so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31).

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved: for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (Romans 10:9-10).

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not see (Hebrews 11:1).

Head

We need intellectually to know some* about God, our sin, and Jesus Christ. We need some* knowledge about both the bad news and the good news. But head knowledge isn’t enough; even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19).

Heart

We must accept that our knowledge about Jesus Christ and what He has done is true. (But, remember, not everything we intellectually know about is correct. For example, we know some about false religions. We need to continually study the scriptures to discover more about God’s truth.)

We must act on our intellectual knowledge by our will, repenting, committing ourselves to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and trusting Him.

We become assured that Jesus Christ is who the Bible says He is, that the gospel is true. We are convicted with our whole being.

The Protestant Reformers divided “heart” into two parts: 1) belief that the Christian gospel is true, and 2) volitionally committing and placing trust in Jesus Christ.

Hands

Saving faith involves our whole being. Saving faith is an action. We must confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. Faith becomes a way of life, evident to others through our actions.

Grow

Once we have saving faith, we have been saved from the penalty sin, and embark on a life-long journey of learning to walk in the newness of life. We will be in the process of being saved from the power of sin, and increasingly keep our Lord’s commandments, pleasing God.

Then, one day, we receive from God what He promised, what we hope for, are assured of: saved from the presence of sin. Glorified! Hallelujah!

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*Our knowledge grows as we grow in the Lord. We’ll never know it all!

MegRichardsPhotography.com

Christians have been saved from the penalty of sin, and are in the process of being saved from the power of sin (sanctification).

While we are in this world, we still sin, but less and less and we grow in the Lord.

God gives us a fabulous, iron-clad promise:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

When we sin, if we confess, God forgives us. Period.

But, sometimes we don’t feel forgiven, and the sin continues to haunt us.

It is possible that our sin stays on our minds because there is something the Lord wants us to do about it. We need to check that we have made things right, as far as we can, with the person or persons we’ve hurt. To the extent we can, reconcile.

It is also possible that we don’t feel forgiven because we don’t believe God’s promise of forgiveness. In that case, we’ve sinned again, this time from unbelief. Not good! We must confess our unbelief.

We don’t like it, but we will continue to sin until the Lord takes us home. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, quickly recognizing and repenting from our sins, confessing our sins, and rejoicing in God’s forgiveness.

Press on!

I’ve heard number of comments lately that we should not assume everyone in our congregations, our groups, our friends and family are saved. Probably not all readers of this blog know the Lord.

One famous caution is D.L. Moody preaching just before the great Chicago fire. At the end of the service, he asked his congregation to think about Christ during the coming week and be ready to make a decision the following Sunday. During the closing hymn, the sound of fire alarms and fire trucks broke in. Many members of the church died.

For the rest of his life, Mood regretted not pressing for a decision right then, and never again suggested someone take time to think about it.

And we need to think also. We all face wrath or mercy.

Judgment is Coming

It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)

The essential decision for each and every person is to be ready to face Almighty God.

Have you honestly looked at your life, and been honest with God about your sin (which means confession)? PLEASE repent of your sin and turn to Jesus Christ in belief and trust.

Wrath

If a person choses to reject God and fails to believe in Jesus Christ, he has been judged already (John 3:18).

If a person isn’t written into Christ’s book of life, there is nothing left except the terrifying certainty of eternal torment in the everlasting fire (Hebrews 10:27, Revelation 20:15).

PLEASE! Now is the day of salvation! PLEASE don’t harden your heart (2 Corinthians 6:2, Hebrews 4:7).

See Becoming a Child of God.

Mercy

However, the awesome good news is that Almighty God sent Jesus Christ to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10).

For those who believe, they will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

For those who have received Christ as Lord and Savior, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1), and no separation from the love of God (Romans 8:39)!

In this life, believers learn more and more about God’s love, mercy, and power. It is a breathtaking journey.

PLEASE!

Please, if you haven’t yet turned to Christ, make today the day. Please repent and believe. Please don’t perish.

And if you are in Christ’s book of life, rejoice. Continue to seek Him, growing in th grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)