A few years ago, I wrote the book Resgatando a Ambicao [Fiel Editor] and asked for ransom. I wanted to deflect ambition from many bad motivations and put it into action for the glory of God. I wanted Christians to understand that to understand Our ambition, we must understand that we are seeking glory. And where we find glory determines the success of our research. Since I wrote this book, many have suggested that I address God’s plan of ambition in the workplace and in the so-called journal. is the first part of a multi-part series on how to rescue ambition in the workplace.
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“If I could tell Christians involved in the business world something, what would it be?
I asked a friend, a successful CEO of several companies that have been in the market for many years; in four decades of leadership, he had seen Christians of all kinds, form and tradition in the workplace. And, to be honest, he wasn’t impressed.
Before me, he said, “I would tell you that it is right for Christians to be competitive in the market. “He went on to explain that there is a way for Christians to understand the piety that seems to suppress their motivation to succeed.
Christians have become so modest that they barely aspire. Humility was a suffocating ambition. And in their minds, it was good, because ambition is bad.
My executive friend was fighting something important. The idea of ambition, seeking glory, cherishing great dreams and fighting for them is disgraceful for Christians in the market. Perhaps this is because in cultural debate, ambition often has a bad reputation. Ambition raises suspicion. Hide those dark places of the soul where aggression, pride and cold calculator competition germinate. Ambition has an insatiable thirst for money, power and prestige. I always wish, never satisfied. Or that seems to be the case.
Do we all know? In fact, we pray that we do not become “that person. “You know, the tough boss, the teammate who wins at all costs, the so-called friend who uses people to climb the social ladder. Shakespeare summed it up well: “I challenge you, put aside ambition: for this sin, have the angels fallen?[1]
Goodbye ambition, hello happiness! Right?
I’m not so sure.
But I think my friend’s right. When it comes to Christians in the workplace, ambition must be saved.
Bought from what?
Saved from selfishness
In its most holy form, ambition is simply the desire to use our gifts for the glory of God. There is an inherent need in us to create and produce in a way that reflects the Creator Himself. In Genesis 1-2, we are commanded to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth, to subjugate the earth, and to dominate it. Before the advent of sin, Adam acted in harmony with the way it was created: he worked in the garden, began a fruitful work, devoted himself to creation in the presence of Dios. La ambition was originally noble because he expressed an instinct to produce for the glory of God.
If you want to find the biblical formula of commercial ambition, can you start with the creative mandate?Go towards intense work, the ability to innovate, the vision to build?All related to creation. People created in God’s image should participate in the business world. So, what’s the problem?
However, the ambition was corrupted in the fall. Adam’s heart was corrupted, was it tainted by a deep desire to be like God? (Genesis 3. 5). The glory of God has been diverted into the pursuit of personal glory. Ambition bent inward and he became selfish. And that is what has been transmitted to us. Our natural ambition is no longer to glorify God or reflect God. We want to replace God and induce self.
What could be more foolish than trying to dethrone God? Imagine if you were challenging a company totally dependent on public procurement. And one day, I decided to rebel against the government and break all these government specifications. Does the government want 10,000 units in gray and white? We’ll give you fifty thousand in yellow. We recruited our marketing team from Al Quaeda. [2] What do you think will happen to my business prospects? You are right, the company fails and, in fact, I go to jail. It is the fall of man in all his stupidity. It is the corruption of ambition.
When ambition seeks its own satisfaction, whether in business or in life, it does not produce what it should. This becomes, in the language of James’ book, “factional feeling”, producing “confusion and all sorts of bad things. ” In the gospel, there is not only a rescue of ourselves, a rescue of our ambitions. We find the joy of living for the glory of God and for the good of others. Our work, our innovation and our vision are invested in the benefit of this world and in the future.
(This is the first part of a five-part series: “Save ambition in the workplace?”).
1: Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, Act 3, Scene 2
2: Islamic terrorist group.