Secret Ambition
What’s the secret to success? How can we raise up our children to fulfill their destiny? Here’s another secret from this Thursday series called “Secrets My Father Told me” . . .
Secret Ambition
Fill in the blanks. If I were to ask you, “What is your goal in life?”
What would your answer be?
“I want to __________________________.”
Some possible answers could be:
“I want to make a difference in the world.”
“I want to be an excellent doctor.”
“I want to be a godly lawyer.”
“I want to be an inspiring teacher.”
“I want to be a successful entrepreneur.”
“I want to find a cure for cancer.”
“I want to have a lot of followers on my website.”
“I want to make a lot of money.”
“I want to feed the poor.”
We all have great ambitions in life. That’s why this verse in 1 Thessalonians 4: 11 puzzled me:
“. . . make it your ambition to lead a quiet life …and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you . . .”
It says that even before you think of “attending to your work or your business”, your first ambition is to aspire for a quiet life. I’ve never heard a parent say to his or her little children: “Guys, when you grow up, your goal is to lead a quiet life.”
I mean, is that even considered an ambition??
Somehow the words “ambition” and “quiet” don’t seem compatible to me. You can’t be a success and live quietly, right? To make a difference in the world, you have to make waves! Take action! Be popular! You have to “go against the flow”! “Swim upstream”! “Think out of the box”! “Strike while the iron is hot”! All these phrases that success gurus promote.
Now here comes the Bible, saying that the worthwhile goal to aspire for is a quiet life.
I’ll never forget the day when one of our teenage sons came to us, distraught and in tears. His batch had just graduated, and college was the next step. The top student of his class, this bright, eloquent, young girl, had just given her valedictory speech.
Two weeks later, our son came to Joey’s office with such terrible news. This very girl, so full of potential and intelligence, had decided to end her life. It broke our hearts.
Here was a girl with the world at her feet, yet the world could not give her the peace that her heart longed for. This tragedy became a wake up call for us as parents to remember that yes, we want our children to succeed; but not molded by the world’s definition of success—but by God’s.
Jesus came to the world with a huge calling. He was full of wisdom and stature. He was drawing crowds. He was making miracles. This was his public life. But he didn’t allow his public life to pressure him.
The Bible points out the secret of his enduring strength and wisdom: He had developed a quiet life, one unseen, that was hidden with God. He was getting his love, acceptance, and reassurance from His Heavenly Father.
God was revealing a secret we all need: Develop your private life with God.
A quiet life is needed in a noisy world. The noisier and more demanding your world is, the more “quiet” you’ll need.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1: 35)
After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. (Matthew 14: 23)
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.(Luke 6: 12)
The world needs God, and so do His children. And more than the public life that demands our presence, we need to follow Jesus’ example and have more and more of God’s presence in our daily lives.
Dear Father, may we teach our children to live not for the approval of men, but for the quiet approval of the One who loves them the most. May we develop a quiet life with You.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26: 3)
(Thank you for reading : > See you next Thursday!)
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