There’s a 3-word phrase that will elicit a knowing smile from almost any Japanese person wherever you go in the country. The phrase is, “Boys, be ambitious,” and it came from the farewell address that William Smith Clark made after an 8-month stint as head of the Sapporo Agricultural College in 1877. Today, there are statues of Clark bearing the phrase and a painting in the state capitol building in Sapporo with a full text of his speech. Clark was a devout Christian but is the phrase by which he’s remembered Christian? Should a Christian be ambitious? Or was this just an export of American capitalism? I think the answer is yes and no, depending on how we define the term. Let me explain.

1. Seek to be more useful to God

Paul wrote to Timothy, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Timothy 3:1). The word for “aspire” here refers to a longing or ambition. His point is that it’s healthy when a Christian seeks to be more useful to God. When our ambition is directed toward serving and others it can be a healthy expression of faith and devotion. That’s all the more so when we recognize that with more responsibility comes more accountability. As James said, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). For some people, a verse like this is an excuse to do as little as possible. For others, it’s a call to pursue greater maturity to match the usefulness they long for.

• Do you have spiritual ambition?

• Do you long to be more useful to God?

• Are you growing in the maturity needed to serve God in a greater capacity?

2. Be content with whatever role God calls you to

So far, we’ve said that there’s a form of spiritual ambition that’s healthy and appropriate. I think we’ve all seen spiritual ambition turn into something else, though. It’s easy for an ambition to be more useful to God turn into an ambition for position and praise. We say we’re ambitious for Him, but in reality, we’re ambitious for ourselves. Paul gave an important caution in Acts 20:28 when he said, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” The Holy Spirit assigns a person their role. We don’t get to decide what position we’re going to play. Our job is to be content with the role God calls us to and “pay careful attention” to our own growth and to those God calls us to serve. Ambition is ugly when it turns us into the Pharisees Jesus renounced, saying: “they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others” (Matthew 23:6-7).

• Are you ambitious for Jesus or for yourself?

• Are you content to serve God in whatever capacity He assigns you?

3. Turn your ‘have to’ into a ‘want to’

The opposite of ambition is perhaps obligation. There’s a selfishness in us that just wants to do the bare minimum. We get our calculators out to make sure that we’re not doing an ounce more than anyone else, and if we can get away with doing less even better. That kind of attitude misunderstands the grace of God. When Peter gives a charge to elders, he says, “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you” (1 Peter 5:2). Similarly, Paul wrote to Philemon: “I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord” (Philemon 14). Everything we do should come from a healthy spiritual ambition that wants to do good instead of just feeling like we have to.

• Are you eager to serve?

• Are you generous with your time?

• Is there an inner ‘have to’ that you need to repent of and replace with a holy ‘want to’?

It turns out that William Smith Clark seemed to have gotten ambition right. The full quote that’s attributed to him is, “Boys, be ambitious! Be ambitious not for money or for selfish aggrandizement, not for that evanescent thing which men call fame. Be ambitious for the attainment of all that a man ought to be.” Although he was in the country for less than a year, 31 of his students professed faith in Christ and many of them went on to become influential representatives of Christianity. Almost 150 years later, his words still inspire the nation, and his wisdom and integrity are famous. He did his part, and we’re called to be faithful in ours. May God stir your holy ambition today!

In awe of Him,

Paul