Tap Tap Tap. A weak hand resounds against the shabby door as a feeble voice pleads. “Grant me justice from my enemies!” Pound Pound Pound. A strong hand thunders against the dark door in the dead of night. “Please, I must have bread for my friend, he has come from a long distance and is faint for want of food.”

Ambition. It is the difference between those who are content to be smart and those who are great. It is the dust from which mighty nations are born and the wind that blows movements from generation to generation.

Like the unrighteous judge, the world does not often give us what we are due. If we, unlike the widow, allow the judge to tell us “no” our condition will never improve.

Think Different

If Martin Luther has conformed to the world, he would have never nailed those 31 points to the gate of the chapel. He would have continued to be a humble monk who never changed the world. But the movement he started shakes the world to this day.

Thomas Edison believed that there was a better way to light homes than oil burning lamps. No one thought there could be a better way. When Edison tried he only met with failure upon failure. One persistent man forever changed the color of the night sky.

Like his namesake, Martin Luther King also refused to take the world at face value. He saw things as they could be, not as they were. He had the drive to make a difference and the passion to see it through to completion.

Not Easy

Everyone who wants to see change has their share of obstacles. After nailing his theses on the door Martin Luther was hated, loathed and hunted by his peers. Martin Luther King was assassinated. Edison failed, but after each failure he tried again. When the world knocks a man down, he falls. But an ambitious man gets right back up and keeps striving, knocking, pounding. He won’t give up without justice, without bread, without change.

What makes great men different? What is it that helps them change the course of the future? Are they lucky? Are they rich? What gives them the ability to shake the world? Not only do they have skill and ability but they have an unrelenting ambition to see something change. They do not give up banging on the door until they have justice. They do not stop shouting on the street till they get bread. They do not stop striving until they see change.

Not Safe
Ambition is powerful and volatile, but it is dangerous alone. Ambition is the means by which strong ideals are driven into the fabric of the world, but it does not discriminate between good and bad. Ambition fills the lungs both of those who would improve the world and those who would control it. Many ambitious men have changed the world for the worse.

Hitler saw a world in which a certain type of human was superior to the rest. He went from delivering fiery bar room speeches to starting the largest and bloodiest war in history . What made this man different from Martin Luther or Martin Luther King? His ambition was the same but his heart was not.

Keeping ambition from poisoning the future takes more than “good” intentions. Hitler thought he was making the world a better place without retarted people and Jews. He was wrong but did not know it.

Ambition Tests

Here are three tests to see if ambition is good or bad:

  1. Means Test – One test to see the quality of your ambition is to test your means. Do you think the ends justify the means? Unjust means unjustify the end. Hitler was not afraid to use unjust means. Martin Luther was not.
  2. Source Test – One way to see where your ambition is going is to see where it comes from. Godly ambition will lead to a godly end. Ungodly ambition will not.
  3. Fruit Test – Is your ambition bringing you closer to God or away from Him? If you find yourself farther from God it is a sign you are on a dark road. Get off that road.

I am sure there are other tests. Can you think of what they are?

One Last Warning

In your ambition be careful not to belive in yourself. The world’s lie of self esteem can lead to a poisoning of your future.