SCRIPTURE: Make it your ambition to live quietly and peacefully, and to mind your own affairs and work with your hands, just as we directed you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders [exhibiting good character, personal integrity, and moral courage worthy of the respect of the outside world], and be dependent on no one and in need of nothing [be self-supporting]. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 AMP

THOUGHT: What do you think of as “ambition?” What are the character traits of an ambitious person? I think of someone who never lets grass grow under their feet, someone with big ideas and energy, pushing on through all the entropy and obstacles life throws their way to personal glory. Paul was actually that kind of ambitious once, fueled by anger and perfectionism and intellectual pride, but Jesus changed all that. Now, the ambition he advises is to live quietly and peacefully, minding your own business, working with your hands, treating others with integrity, and supporting yourself so you don’t become entangled in financial dependency. He never threw away his ambition to make Christ known, but all the other ambition was “garbage” he said. Something to think about.

PRAYER: Lord, I’d like to see ambition more as Paul did when writing this letter to the Thessalonians, and I’d love to live in a country where good character, personal integrity, self-support, and moral courage are worthy of respect. Help me be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.

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