How would you respond if someone described you as ambitious? Is ambition positive? Negative? Neutral? Does it depend on context?
In this week’s reading (Philippians 2:1-13), Paul cautions the Christian community against “selfish ambition.” He exhorts them to “look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” He goes to far as to say that Christians should “regard others as better than yourselves.”
The Christian theologian Miroslav Volf, in his book The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse, argues that “striving to be better than others devalues our achievements, surroundings, and relationships by turning them into mere means to an empty goal.” Do you agree with Volf? If so, why? If not, why not? (Volf teaches at Yale and he visited The Community Church two years ago as part of the Ohl Lecture Series. We discussed his book Life Worth Living as part of our Community@Community Lenten program).
In the below movie clip, a journalist (played by Martin Sheen) and Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley) are having a discussion while they tour a local “ashram.” Gandhi explains that the word ashram essentially means “community,” which could be a small village or even the world. The journalist scoffs and says, “You’re an ambitious man, Mr. Gandhi.” Unamused, Gandhi responds, “I hope not.” What did the journalist mean when he suggested that Gandhi was ambitious? What did Gandhi think he meant? Why would Gandhi hope not to be ambitious?
Lastly, Paul exhorted the Christian community to “stive side by side with one mind for the sake of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). Paul was someone who was driven, had a profound since of mission, and was determined to “press on toward the goal of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). We can deduce then, for Paul, ambition and being driven are not necessarily synonymous. What is the difference and why does it matter?
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