CHARLO, New Brunswick, April 14, 2024 – A topic that’s rarely discussed in polite religious circles is Jesus and his ambition. It’s as if ascribing something as “human” as ambition to one such as Jesus is somehow off-limits, but Jesus was ambitious. There’s no doubt about that. And he wants you to know he was ambitious because he wants you to be ambitious, too, but ambitious in the way he was, not in the way the world is.

The difference between Jesus’ ambition and worldly ambition is that Jesus wanted to go as high as he could in the Kingdom, in service to God, while worldly people want to go as high as they can in the world, in service to themselves, their families, their nation, etc. So, instead of aiming for the same old tired trinity of worldly fame, worldly fortune, and worldly power (yawn…), we born-again believers need to be ambitious like Jesus was. We, too, need to want to go as high as we can in God’s Kingdom so we can gain spiritual fame, spiritual fortune, and spiritual power, all of which comes from God and is both free of charge and priceless.

But how do we get there? How do we achieve the same or similar level of spiritual fame, fortune, and power as Jesus? In other words, if we’re not yet there, how can we become ambitious like Jesus?

To answer these questions, we need to look at how Jesus achieved his ambitions, because everything we do should reflect what Jesus did, not only in the choices he made, but how he went about making them.

As his first order of business, Jesus waited for God’s signal to let him know it was time to start his ministry. This is an absolute must, to wait for God’s signal. You cannot achieve anything of spiritual value if God isn’t in it, helping you do it in his time. You might desperately want to do something – you might even think it’s a good thing to do, an honorable thing to do – but if God hasn’t inspired you to do it and hasn’t given you the go-ahead to do it, you’re wasting your time on a pride project.

Secondly, when he got God’s message loud and clear that it was time to start his ministry, Jesus immediately cleared the slate of his former (pre-ministry) life. He gave up everything he’d accumulated in Nazareth, including his role as the eldest son, his job as a carpenter, his home, his possessions, even his good reputation. When he’d finished clearing his slate, he was no longer welcome in his hometown (on pain of death) and even had to sneak in undercover to visit his family. Yet he considered his new-found infamy of no consequence and didn’t try to back-track to recover lost ground. He simply moved on.

Next, he threw himself entirely on God’s mercy and good graces. He did this initially by relying on God for basic survival during his 40 days and nights in the wilderness fasting. When he emerged from this ordeal and started his ministry proper, Jesus had plenty of work, but no “gainful employ”, meaning that he relied on others to provide for his needs. Being an itinerant preacher and teacher meant he was always on the road and had no need to maintain a house, anyway, but still, that’s a lot of unknowns to deal with every morning when you wake up – Where am I going to sleep tonight? What am I going to eat today? Where am I going to go and how am I going to get there? Most people wouldn’t last a week living like that, let alone three years, especially when paired with working 18-hour days. Jesus was able to do it because he relied on God to provide for him either directly (like the gold coin in the fish’s mouth) or indirectly (through donations).

Fourth, once his course was set and he was on his way, Jesus refused to be sidetracked or compromised. The devil famously tried to knock him off-course right out of the gate by plying him with his usual “deal you can’t refuse” schtick, but Jesus easily brushed him aside and kept going. He just as easily brushed aside the religious powers-that-be in Jerusalem and elsewhere, as well as his family when they showed up in Capernaum, intending to take him back to Nazareth for his own safety. We can only imagine the number of alluring women the devil strewed in his path, trying to tempt him, or the number of shady deals he was pitched during his pub visits or even at the homes of the religious elite. What we don’t have to imagine is that he turned them all down, because that he clearly did, ultimately emerging a sinless and worthy sacrifice.

Fifth and finally, Jesus refused to give up. He knew what his mission was and he knew what his reward was, and he wasn’t going to falter, no matter how hopeless things looked at any given time. This strategy of “never give up, no matter what” is actually the secret superpower of every successful person, whether you’re aiming for worldly success or spiritual success. You cannot be ambitious without it. And Jesus certainly was ambitious. He was driven, focused, single-purposed, and tireless and he gave everything he had in every conceivable way to achieve his goal. Even the looming threat of crucifixion didn’t stop him – he simply doubled-down on his prayers and was immediately rewarded with a contingent of angels, strengthening him.

We must never downplay the ambition of Jesus during his ministry years or dismiss ambition as being unworthy of him, because ambition was beyond a doubt one of Jesus’ core traits. I’d even go so far as to state that without ambition, Jesus might not have been the Messiah. Faith, of course, is necessary and certainly gets us farther than mere desire, but ambition gives us that extra boost, making us crafty, adaptable, resourceful, and relentless, all of which are formidable characteristics when directed – with God’s inspiration – to the service of God’s Kingdom.