Selfish Ambition Meaning

Selfish ambition meaning is when your ambition becomes all about you. We want to achieve ambition and do it with determination and hard work. But when that ambition becomes self-seeking, then it becomes selfish.

What does selfish ambition mean? What does the Bible say about selfish ambition? Is being ambitious bad or selfish itself? And what is the opposite of selfish ambition?

These are all questions that we will tackle today. Let’s jump in and see what we can learn.

Selfish Ambition Meaning

When the focus of our drive for ambition becomes all about what we will gain and profit from it, then it becomes a selfish ambition.

My ambition in my previous job was that way. Even though I cared for my employees and was compassionate about their issues, I was trying to get promoted to the next level, which made my ambition selfish. And that took my eyes off the focus of the goals of serving our customers in the best way possible.

God rescued me from my selfish ambition and humbled me. He led me to start writing again and develop this website for working women to find contentment in God’s Plan for their lives.

God knows what selfish ambition does to us and how it impacts the others around us.

What does the Bible say about selfish ambition?

The Greek word for selfishness in the Bible is ‘eritheia’, which means a desire to put oneself forward and not have a spirit of humility. This word focuses on the political pursuit of an office and trying tactics to get an unfair advantage over the opponent.

We have seen a lot of this type of activity any time there is an election for a political office, whether at the local, state, or federal level. It has to be hard to be a Christian and a politician at the same time. These people are under a lot of pressure to campaign this way to get ahead. This is another reason we should pray for those in political offices to humbly serve the country’s people and not seek gain for themselves.

These political figures are doing what James tells us not to do:

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

James 3:14 ESV

Instead, we should be humble and consider what others need.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3 ESV

When Paul says to count others as more significant, he is saying to regard them as more important. This means that we should already deem them this way. God believes each person is valuable and worthy of love. We should value them in the same way.

Is being ambitious selfish?

Should we not be ambitious at all? No. It is good to have the drive and determination to accomplish something. But we need to be careful in how we attack it. If we are doing things at the expense of our health, not keeping our family focused on God, and ignoring our friends or community, we must evaluate where we are and what we need to change.

In a previous job, I was stressed, which was taking a toll on my health. My focus on my relationship with God and my family was kept intact, and we have close friends with whom we spend a lot of time. But I had zero time for our neighbors in our community. After my job changed and I began working at home, I started to get to know our neighbors. And then the pandemic hit, and I worked at home all the time. During this time, we adopted a puppy at a rescue and started taking him for walks. (See a more recent picture of our dog, Beau). People were outside and trying to get fresh air from being quarantined. And we got to know our neighbors more and have spent some time helping them out and vice versa.

How do I stop having selfish ambition?

It is all about balance. Take an inventory of your life. Where is your ambition taking you? Does it affect any of the areas I mentioned: God, health, marriage, family, friends, or community?

Decide now that you will dial back your ambition to get more balance in your life.

5 Areas to Change & Become Less Selfish

Here are five areas you can make changes to be less selfish.

1. Where are you at with God? When is the last time you read your Bible or went to a Bible-believing church? Pick up your Bible and start reading the Gospels found in the New Testament. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Focus on how Jesus served and was humble in His interactions with people. Seek to be more humble like Jesus.
2. Go on a date with your spouse. Spending the evening or day with them and enjoying their company.
3. After your relationship with God and your spouse, your family should be the next most important relationship in your life. Go to the park together, bring a picnic lunch, or go to a children’s museum. Do fun things, laugh out loud, and read together before bedtime. Make family time special and make memories with them.
4. Volunteer. Find things to do outside of work. Preferably, do some volunteer things together with your family. Go volunteer at a non-profit to pack food for children worldwide who are starving of malnutrition. Or volunteer at a food shelf or adopt a park in your town to clean up trash.
5. Reduce the hours you work. If you are working more than 45 hours and trying to get ahead at your job, there is something wrong with their staffing model. I used to work 55 hours a week to get everything done, and there was more work to do. And after changing jobs, my stress levels went down, my health improved, and I am more content doing what I am doing. And it allows me more time to spend with my husband, our dog, family, and friends.

What is the opposite of selfish ambition?

In Ambition: Selfish or selfless, I told the story about working at a Christian camp during the summer and how I needed to keep my focus on the campers and serving them during the summer.

Working at a camp during the summer is a ton of hours and is part of the ministry concept. There is a day off at the end of the week between camps and some downtime during the week to help you recharge.

A Christian Camp is about the camper. It is being selfless and humble. You are giving up your summer and time to help kids learn more about Jesus and have fun doing it. The other selfless part about working at a Christian camp is that you won’t make much money. Want to know more about being humble? Check out this post on the Benefits of Humbleness. There are ten of them!

Summary: Selfish Ambition Meaning

Making the focus of our drive to succeed is what is behind selfish ambition meaning. When we do that, it can affect our health and all the relationships we have. It can lead to a lonely life without meaningful relationships. And then all that we have strived for is meaningless. Solomon called this chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14 ESV).

Instead, strive for things that inspire others, change lives, and bring others closer to a relationship with God. Share God’s Word with them as it is something that will last forever.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Isaiah 40:8 ESV

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