INORDINATE AMBITION

The longing to live a better life is inherent in all humans. Whether consciously or unconsciously, everyone dreams to become somebody in life. No matter how comfortable a man can be, he is still on the lookout for a greater tomorrow. Notwithstanding, whatever you aspire to be or achieve in life is subject to your ambition. 

As seen in Isaiah 14:12-23, Lucifer could not think of becoming any other thing but to overthrow his Maker and take over the throne of God. What a ridiculous desire that culminated in an inordinate ambition!

In the same manner, many of us today have gradually lost value in living a life of virtue, but worldly pleasure and fleshly lust, have blinded our godly reasoning. Both old and young are no longer ashamed to do anything in disguise for success. The urge, pressure and clamour to make it by all means regardless of our societal values are becoming a norm. What a disaster!

Imagine young men and ladies, married and single, passionately and shamelessly trading off their morals and playing out a demonic script on live screens in the name of reality TV shows to garner fame and popularity in disguise for success. The truth is many people have been wrongly guided and misinformed, good motives of living a purposeful life have been deeply misinterpreted. It now seems as if there are no genuine ways of realizing your dream except you are involved in immorality. What a shame! This is highly demoralizing and should not be encouraged at all.

Perhaps you are reading this and your thought is already going south, the Lord is admonishing you because you are destined only for the top, withdraw from such an act. May you never be consumed by fleshly ambitions in Jesus name.

The subject for discussion is "Inordinate Ambition", and the word ambition can be defined as the urge to climb the next step in the ladder of success. A cherished, conceived desire and a strong drive for success. The readiness to give all it takes to achieve a certain goal in life. 

Moreover, ambition is generally borne out of the passion to become, to have, to possess and to dominate. And, for your information, man was originally wired or designed by God with the ambition to become, to have, to possess, and to dominate. In actual fact, Genesis 1:28 says, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth". May you become what God has called you to be in the name of Jesus.   

Inordinate on the other hand stands for excessive, undue, unreasonable and beyond normal limits.

However, this ambition to become, to have, to possess and to dominate, which is the original call of man, can become inordinate. 

This takes us to the next question, what exactly is meant by inordinate ambition?

Inordinate ambition comes to play when the urge to climb the next step in the ladder of success is going beyond a normal limit. When a conceived desire and a drive for success are becoming unreasonable and when undue attention is being given to a certain goal. 

Judas Iscariot was ready to sell off the Master even as a disciple of Jesus Christ all for inordinate ambition to make money. This is quite unthinkable, but it happened. 

In the same manner, there are so many cases of disloyalty around us today. This has led to an illogical search for power, politically and spiritually. Please understand me, the ambition to represent a people on a political platform is not bad, but it becomes one when the person in question has a selfish agenda contrary to serving the people he represented.

Furthermore, the ambition to start a church in furtherance to the work of God here on earth is not an ignoble or an ungodly endeavour, but it becomes one when the motive behind the establishment is biased and self-centred. Getting rich and wealthy is your call as a man, but it becomes inordinate, abnormally excessive, and unnecessary when you are ready to cheat, steal, kill, do all sorts of ungodly rituals and so on in disguise for success. Psalm 101:7, “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight”.

Proverbs 20:17, “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards, his mouth shall be filled with gravel”. 

Inordinate ambition is displayed when you are ready to take that which does not belong to you. Lucifer was a very ambitious Cherub, he was desperate to become like God. He envied the position God occupies and was ready to achieve it but he fell from heaven. 

Isaiah 14:12-15, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15, Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit". 

You are nothing different from the devil as long as you can not wait for your time of promotion to a certain position of authority until you have backstabbed your superior at work and manipulated everyone around you to support your evil agenda.

When your ambition is been fueled by the passion for self-glorification which is void of God, it is inordinate. Take a cue from the tower of Babel; Genesis 11:1-9, "1, And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2, And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3, And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4, And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5, And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6, And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7, Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8, So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9, Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth".  

The major aim of building this edifice was mainly to make a name for themselves, Genesis 11:4. What a wrong reason for ambition!

That goal you are pursuing today, what is the motive behind it? That building you are working on presently, that car you are planning to buy, that money you want to donate, that dream you are nursing, that degree you want to acquire, that title you want to receive, to whose glory are you planning to get this? Is it for yourself glorification or to the glory of God?

When the ambition is against the will of God and it is generally designed to destroy the plan of God, it is inordinate. 

Hamaan was an ambitious man during the time of King Ahasuerus. He was ready to destroy the plan of God by manipulating the king to kill all Jews in Sushan at that time just because of Mordecai who refused to honour him probably because of evil he had done in the past. 

He was also ready to take the glory that does not belong to him. Esther 2,3,4,5,6,7&8.

Among many dangers attached to inordinate ambition are; 

1. Unfulfilment and a waste of time, effort and energy. Genesis 11:9, "Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth".  Isaiah 14:12, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! May your dream never fail in Jesus name. May your dream and aspiration be fulfilled in Jesus name.
2. The enmity between man and God. James 4:4, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God".  May every enmity between you and God be resolved today in Jesus name. 
3. Generational curse. 2Kings 5:26, "And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? 27, The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow". You are delivered today from every generational curse in the name of Jesus.
4. Inability to realize the plan of God for your life. Gehazi would have received the double portion of Elisha's anointing and become a great prophet in the same order with his master but for his inordinate ambition to take that which does not belong to him. May every plan of God for your life come to manifestation in the name of Jesus.

Ambition is necessary to move ahead in life, but when it is excessive, unreasonable and above normal limits, it is inordinate. This is highly detrimental to your true self as a child of God.