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True Ambition

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 17, 1872

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 41, No. 1.

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True Ambition.

By A. M. Lindsley

Is it not strange that man, with the capacities for action and enjoyment with which he is endowed, should so demean himself as to sink almost to the level of the brute? Formed for a period of existence co-equal with his Creator, so organized, that using his powers as they were given to be used, he may enjoy himself here, and lay a foundation for a glorious hereafter, strange that he should grovel, satisfied to live the life of the beast, and, at the last, die his death, with no hope, or wish even, to prolong his existence. Such is the power of Satan to lull us to sleep. And should we be in a measure aroused by the voice of warning sent by the Spirit of God, how natural to again sink with drowsy slumber to inaction, and thence to indifference. God’s love to us in sending his Son to pass through sorrow and suffering for our sake, to redeem us from death, is comprehended by but few, and that few, perhaps, in but a small ratio to what they might realize should they make the efforts that Enoch, and faithful ones such as he, must have made.
Nothing but a true ambition to make life a success, to honor and glorify God, will lead us to the use of those means by which we may overcome. To do this, we must deny self all the way along, be willing to die to the petty ambitions of earth, and that honor that comes from man only, struggling against our natural depravity, with our eyes ever lifted upward, looking by faith to those things which are not seen, which are eternal.
I often think of the words of the weeping prophet, so applicable to this time. Jer. 6: 10: “To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.” How true now, when of all times the most important, that it is so hard to make an impression on hearts, because they are so imbedded in unbelief and indifference! Truly we are fallen upon perilous times. Suffering, sin, and death, make up the burden of life. Can we do aught but cry, How long, O Lord! how long? Come, Lord Jesus, O come quickly, and cut short this night of error and gloom!
A. M. Lindsley.