Today's Devotional
February 9, 2006
Subject: Selfish Ambition
Philippians 2:3 - "Don't act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves."
The funeral for the widow of slain civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was held on Tuesday. Coretta Scott King received a funeral worthy of royalty, which is the way some described her. The program for the funeral has been circulating and boy was it nice. It was 28 or 30 pages long and had dignitaries from everywhere listed as speakers. I heard there were 39 total speakers not to mention the songs that were to be performed. It was some extravagant event.
I watched a few snippets of the funeral on the news and I was deeply saddened that some of the speakers used such a solemn occasion to publish their agenda or make their political points. One such speaker actually identified as a "Reverend," took the time to blast the President of the United States concerning the never-found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Sadly, their was much applause and some people standing. The whole scene seemed to push Coretta into the background of the event as she merely served as a backdrop for someone's political goals.
During Jesus' walk on earth, this was the problem the Pharisees had. For most of them, it was never about doing the "right thing," but instead it was about their position, their prominence and their prestige. Everything else served to meet their goals. The passage above makes it clear that it really isn't about our ambition and goals. It's about us walking humbly before our God and considering others more than we consider ourselves.
Had all of the speakers at Mrs. King's funeral felt that way, surely they would not have brought their political fights and arguments into her funeral service. That was the definition of "selfish ambition."
Today think about what you are doing and why. When nothing else matters and you simply want to be heard or seen, the ambition is selfish.
Carlen
