By Not Known
When I completed the last paper of my PSLE, I thought I was getting nearer to be a fighter pilot as I always wanted to. I loved to fly even though I had no idea at that time where the airport was even situated. I had only seen planes on TVs and movies.
After two years, that ambition gave way to being a professional athlete when I took up running in Secondary school. I loved the feeling of wind on my face when I sped across the track. And I love to be the first to cross the finishing line. I pursued that for four years, I trained hard and gave much of my time to it. After winning trophies and medals, that too fizzled out when I served national service. Another ambition grabbed me then that led to where I am today.
Wiki’s definition of ambition is: the desire for personal achievement. It provides the motivation and determination necessary to achieve a particular end or condition. Furthermore, it says, ambitious people are characterised by their strong desire for attainment, power, or superiority.
What was your ambition? Have you achieved it? If not, are you still pursuing it? If yes, are you satisfied? What’s next?
Paul in 1 Timothy 4 challenged the young man, Timothy, with his ambition. He told him, to “train yourself” (v7), “to toil and strive” (v10), “to devote himself” (v13), to “not neglect” (v14), “to keep a close watch” (v16), and to “persist in this”. Paul was telling Timothy to dedicate himself to the task of his ambition, his calling when “the council of elders laid their hands on him.” Paul motivated him to attain what God wants him to accomplish.
Whatever your personal ambition may be, there is one ambition which all of us should and must have as people who have been saved. The ambition to be holy. Some call it devotion, others term it as commitment or discipline, but God decreed it as obedience. “Be holy as I am holy,” God says in 1 Pet 1:13-16.
There are to be sacrifices made, efforts involved, mindsets changed, and attitudes molded. Do you strive and toil in the pursuit of godliness? Do you throw behind you those ‘rubbish’ that hinder your progress? Do you fix your eyes and focus on God’s kingdom instead of on your personal goals. Do you have a holy ambition, one that pleases God and gives him the glory?
Peter Poon