Godly Ambition: Maximize Your Gifts for ChristNäide

RUNNING ON EMPTY

“Bro, are you okay?”

If not for my friend’s urgent shout and the panicked honking from the other cars, I would have kept driving into oncoming traffic. Bleary-eyed, I pulled into a McDonald’s. As the sun crept over the horizon, I felt a tired­ness in my soul that I could no longer ignore.

This monthlong tour across the country, hitting colleges and churches to promote my latest musical release, was gruel­ing. It was the longest I’d ever been away from my wife and son. I was drained spiritually, emotion­ally, relationally, and financially. Still, I felt touring was my only option. I wanted so badly to make it that I was pushing myself to the point of a breakdown. In my ex­hausted state, I had put my friend and others in danger. Something needed to change.

For more than fifteen years, I’d walked with Jesus. I believed the gospel. Yet I was staying up every night until two or three in the morning “working on music,” hopped-up on exorbitant amounts of caf­feine, sugar, and distractions. I was “busy” but unproductive. Ambition had become my everything—my North Star. And it was destroying me.

When we fall into the trap of selfish ambition, we blur the line between doing things for God and doing things with God. Following God’s will is more important than any sacrifices we make in his name—especially sacrifices he never mandated. As 1 Samuel 15:22 tells us, “to obey is bet­ter than sacrifice." God calls us to temper our ambitions with the overarching command to live according to his will, ensuring that our efforts don’t over­shadow our foundational commitments to faith, family, and personal well-being.

Even Jesus’s closest friends struggled with selfish ambition. Right in the middle of the Last Supper, they began arguing about who was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus had just exemplified a servant’s heart by washing their feet. How easily the attitude of the world seeps into our hearts—even with Jesus close by.

Selfish ambition promises to deliver everything we want, but it leaves us empty.

There’s a better way.

Lord, I know I’m prone to build my own kingdom. At times I’m addicted to affirmation and busyness. Forgive me for the ways I make it about me instead of you. Help me to discern which sacrifices you want me to make, for your glory. Amen.