Ambitions

Do you ever sit back and contemplate what you want to be like? I usually do this when I do or say something stupid and I realize that I am not the person that I want to be. So what qualities do you aspire to have, what are your ambitions?

I was reading Matthew 5:1-12 this week and I have to admit, my ambitions don't typically look like those found in the Beatitudes. I am pretty sure that I have never sat and thought, "I sure would like to be poor in spirit, I would like to mourn, I want to be meek, I would like to be persecuted." Yet, these are the things that Jesus talks about in beginning of his Sermon on the Mount.

Why is it that I don't desire these things for myself? I was thinking about that question this week as thought about the passage. I determined that it is because those things are contrary to what the world teaches us about successful people. These things are also contrary to the selfishness inside of me. As a Christ follower though, I am not called to be like the world, I am called to be a new creation and to put aside my flesh. That is why my ambition, my desire is now to be like the qualities in the Beatitudes. As I pursue those qualities, I can't help becoming more like Jesus as well as a better husband, father, friend and pastor.