What did Jesus say about ambition and success?
Jesus did not tell people to stop wanting to be great. He redefined what great means. When his followers argued about rank, he said whoever wants to be first must be last and the servant of everyone. He kept the ambition and reversed the direction, pointing it at service rather than status.
What Jesus said
The disciples argue about who is greatest more than once, sometimes immediately after he has told them he is going to die. His response is not to shame the desire. It is to redirect it. You want to be great, he says, then serve.
In Mark 10, James and John ask for the top two seats. Jesus tells them they do not know what they are asking, and then explains that rulers in the world lord authority over people, and it will not be that way among them.
He demonstrates it rather than only stating it. On the last night he takes off his outer clothing, wraps a towel around himself, and washes feet, which was work for the lowest servant in a household. Then he says he has given them a pattern.
In Luke 14 he tells guests at a banquet to take the lowest seat rather than the highest, and describes anyone who exalts themselves being humbled. He is talking about social positioning directly.
The hard part
Serving your way to greatness stops working the moment you are doing it to be seen doing it, and he warned about that in the same breath. There is no way to perform this one successfully. It only counts when it is genuinely aimed at the other person, which cannot be faked over time and is much slower than climbing.
What this looks like today
- •Do a task no one will notice. That is the actual training, not the visible service.
- •Ask who is under you rather than above you, and what you owe them.
- •Take the lower seat once this week on purpose and see what it costs you.
Mark 9:33-37, Mark 10:35-45, John 13:1-17, Luke 14:7-11
Go deeper: this comes up in the 40 days