Ambition is a sword that swings both ways—get on the wrong side of it and you will be cut asunder. The Lord’s church is to face the devil with victory in its eye. It is for heaven we have set our course, and we expect our feet to be dogged by the devil and his demons every step of the way. Congregations can be too much about formulating and creating and not enough about receiving proper guidance.Along with the Thessalonian church we have received “instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God” (1Thess.4:1).Churches walking to please God enjoy inner peace and progress, despite whatever forms of misery the devil inflicts upon them. Churches are harmed by internal and external forces. Internal squabbles over leadership and use of resources are embarrassingly common. You would think that we would have cast off meaningless meetings about inanimate objects by now. External forces are everywhere we allow them to be. The devil is an expert at flattery and deception. I was listening online to an elder/preacher of a congregation which has grown in number and influence for all the right reasons. I was praising God for what I was hearing. I was also praying that the brother would stop the interview and warn everyone that the devil is expert at taking hard-won victories and turning them into defeats. Jesus said to the Laodicean church: “you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev.3:17). They believed the exact opposite about their spiritual condition.I am not hear to rain on anyone’s parade. I am here to celebrate victory in Christ in the joy of the Lord, which is always best done when sober-minded. Walking to please God is our ambition: Paul instructs Christians to:“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need” (1Thess.4:11).John Staiger
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