Selfish Ambition and the Lord's Work

"I used to want to do it big.
When you're only focused on yourself, that's small.
And they - they used to tell me as a kid,
that I could do anything that I want except fall.

"And now that I recall, I was chasing my goals.
And every time I caught them, they multiplied into more.
I never even thought about whether the Lord approved.
Call it selfish ambition; I call[ed] it, 'I'm making moves.'

"But history repeats itself. Evil's what it is.
'Cause Lucifer was cast away for doing what I did.
Created by the God who spoke the earth into existence,
instead of chasing the Father's glory, he was chasing his.

"He lies to us all - told Adam he could ball,
'Why [are] you following God when you can go get it all?'
I'll tell you what's better, or better yet worse:
Chasing your own glory by doing the Lord's work.

"So holler if it hurts. But we were made for greater.
Our greatest satisfaction is making His name famous.
So if we're never named among the greatest [or] they don't critically acclaim us,
[That's] nothing to be ashamed of. We gave it up for the Savior.

"And you can have the money. And you can have the fame.
For me, I want the glory. I'm living for the Name.
See, life is just a picture. I see outside the frame.
I'm living for a kingdom that I [have] never seen.
And I'm [going to] chase that. ..."

- Lecrae, "Chase That (Ambition)"

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"We must resist the pride that may spring forth from fruitfulness.

"You know, some progress in the Christian life can also be dangerous. That is why God does not allow us sometimes to experience all the progress that we had hoped for because it would turn and work against us in pride, because we are too immature to really be used to bear such fruit.

"Listen to this in 1 Corinthians 4:7. 'For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?'

"He is talking to a very, very gifted Church, manifestations of the Holy Spirit works in all sorts of things and he is saying, 'Now, hold on here. You have got this all backwards. You have fallen the way of Ephraim. You have not realized that all your fruit, all your gifts, all your abilities, all your knowledge, all your everything comes from Christ.'

"And if it comes from Christ then why do you, how can you boast in anyone, but Christ? Christ alone, he is the true vine."

- Paul Washer, "The Vine and the Branches".