Good day
I ended the previous message off with the following question:
"Let's say your future self could return to the past and they appeared before you today, what would they say to you? What advice or encouragement would they give you? What would they tell you to stop doing, start doing and keep doing?"
One way to approach answering that question is to ask ourselves, "what are my ambitions?"
Ambition can be defined as, "a strong desire to do or achieve something". If we can establish what our ambitions are, we'll be better positioned to recognise what we need to adjust now in order to ensure that we're on track with what we want to accomplish. If we don't know what our ambitions are, then how will we know what to stop, start or keep doing? How would we know if we're on track? How would we measure our progress?
An example of this would be one's career. If you asked someone what their ambitions are for their career, they may be able to tell you what job title they're aspiring towards and how much money they'd like to earn, Based on that, they'd be able to assess exactly where they are right now in relation to that goal. They'd have an idea of what they need to start or keep doing. They'll know exactly whether or not they're on track and making progress towards achieving what they desire ... Oppositely, someone who is unable to answer that question, or who may have a very vague idea of what that outcome looks like, will most likely find themselves stagnating, just going with the flow, and before they know it, years may have gone by and they're nowhere closer to realising or aspiring for more than what they currently have right now ... and this can extend to goals we set for our marriage, our health, our family, etc. Therefore having ambition is a good thing.
In the previous message I referred to the Apostle Paul as an example of someone who made wrong choices but later made up for it by living the rest of his life for God's will and purpose. I'd like to keep with his example and point out 2 passages where he shares some of his ambitions:
Romans 15:20-21
My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says, “Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.”
2 Corinthians 5:9-11
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we 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. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.
In the below passages we also see his determination and just how adamant he is about what he wanted to accomplish. You can clearly see how ambitious he is concerning his relationship with God and God's assignment for his life:
Acts 18:24
And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Philippians 3:7-16
But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did]; so that I may attain to the resurrection [that will raise me] from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature [pursuing spiritual perfection] should have this attitude. And if in any respect you have a different attitude, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us stay true to what we have already attained.
In the Apostle Paul we have someone who was heading in the wrong direction, who was on a path of destruction, coming against the will, plan and purposes of God. Then God redeems him and Paul goes on to use his ambition for pleasing God, furthering the gospel of Jesus Christ and planting churches. He was so committed to this cause that he endured pain, suffering, persecution and imprisonment (2 Corinthians 11:16-33) and didn't even consider his own life as dear - all so that he may finish his race and know God more intimately.
In the Apostle Paul we have someone who had full assurance that he had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith and was now looking forward to his eternal reward and dwelling place with God (2 Timothy 4:6-8). He made that declaration in full knowledge of his past mistakes. He didn't allow the regret of past mistakes to cause him to lose hope, motivation, courage and faith for all that God still required for the remainder of his life. He chose to forget what was behind him and instead focus on being ambitious towards God and using that ambition to reach forward to what was ahead of him.
Amen. It is my prayer that if you find yourself in a place where you're feeling stuck by your past, that the example of the Apostle Paul can serve as an encouragement to know that your future isn't determined by your past and that the future outlook for your life can be very different to the one you may have been experiencing. God is able to turn it around! Amen.
On the one hand it's breaking free of regret and on the other it's having ambition, therefore as we conclude this message I'd like to revisit the question, "What are my ambitions?", and I'd like for us to take a moment to reflect on the below questions:
"When I die one day and leave the Earth, what would I like others to say about me? What would I like God to say about me when I stand before Him one day?"
"If I was asked what my ambitions are regarding my relationship with God, would I be able to answer that question?"
"When friends or family hear me speak, can they tell that I'm ambitious for the things of God?"
"If I've set goals or have ambitions for my career, finances, family, health, etc. Have I done the same for my relationship with God ... And if so, how high up on the list of priorities is that ambition compared to some of the others just mentioned? If I was to measure it against the others, would I see the same amount of progress?"
I trust that the above can be of encouragement to you as it is to me. God is definitely in the transformation business and He loves us too much to leave us as we are; so let's receive His word today and allow that word to motivate us, encourage us, challenge us and transform us so that we can become everything He desires of us.
Amen