Tag: work

The Content Ambitious Man: Reconciling Faith and Ambition

I. Introduction


A. The Average Religious Guy Wants to Convice you That Amibtion and Faith are opposing forces.

The only problem is that this philosophy is dead wrong. The average person looking to place faith and ambition in opposition is just looking for an excuse to justify his personal failures.

“If I’m not successful and you are, the only reason is because I’m more spiritual than you are! You must be really worldly to have amassed all that worldly success”.

Just like these men do when they purport the Poverty Gospel, they must demonize ambition and worldly success as well.

Their only choice to make themselves feel better is to make the issue of success a moral one. The fastest way for religious people to claim the high ground is to take an amoral position and convert it into a moral one.

By doing so they make their necessity a virtue.

content ambitious

B. People are more successful now than ever.

Even people who are “failures” are more successful than people have ever been in history, financially speaking. They may not have the drive or personal success, but they have money that civilizations past could only dream of.

This is just like the poverty gospel where even the “poor” have more material wealth than the wealthy would have had just a few hundred years ago, let alone when the Bible was being written.

There is no room for anyone to babble on when it comes to success, failure, and ambition. Even people with no ambition have luxuries that the hardest-working businessmen couldn’t have dreamed of in centuries past.


C. Thesis statement: Contrary to the false philosophy of the poverty gospel, contentment, and ambition are not mutually exclusive but rather complement each other.

Colossians 3:23 is the key biblical text supporting this idea.

II. Understanding the False Philosophy of the Poverty Gospel

A. You already know what the poverty gospel is. It’s the envious idea that people who have wealth are automatically evil. It has no rationality behind it, or any validity in reality, but nevertheless, it is popular in religious circles. Including the religions of environmentalism and socialism.

Religious people desperately need wealth and faith to be opposing forces so that they can justify their lack of wealth to themselves.

But it’s all relative – again reflect on centuries past and you will see the poor today have unimaginable luxuries compared to the people of the past.


B. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and Joseph – Content Ambitious Men

The Bible describes Abraham as a man rich in livestock silver and gold [Gen 13:2].

Now is Abraham evil because of his wealth?
Is he a bad guy because he amassed possessions in this material world?

No, we know that is not the case. We know it is possible to be Spiritual and wealthy at the same time. The two are not opposed. And Abraham’s is a great example of that.

What about Isaac [Gen 26:12-13]? He followed in his father’s footsteps and became so wealthy that he was the envy of the Land. Was this man materialistic and evil because he amassed so much wealth and possessions that he made other people feel bad? He hurt their feelings with how successful he is, but he would still be righteous.

Jacob followed the example of his father and his father before him [Gen 30:43]. Amassing possessions to the point of “excessive wealth”.

Did that possession make him evil? No.
Was he able to be righteous despite wealth? Absolutely.

Perhaps the most striking example is Job. This is a man whose story opens with an outline of his possessions, and of his character. Here is a man whose character is made more important because of his wealth. He is more impressive because despite having more money than everyone around him, he is still a righteous and just man.

Though He would lose all these possessions, he would maintain God as his priority. He never lost focus on God because he was a righteous man. And he was rewarded with double the possessions that he had before.

The faith of each of these men is not negative because of their wealth, but rather it is made more impressive.

Almost anyone can be righteous while they are poor. Give them a little money or a little power and they will show you who they truly are.

III. The Essence of Colossians 3:23: “Doing All as Unto the Lord”


A. Colossians 2:23 tells us clearly and succinctly that the attitude we should have while working is that we are actually working for the Lord.

This mentality helps us to maintain integrity in work. We might steal from our fellow man, but would we steal from Christ?

Additionally, it gives us permission to work with intensity and work to be successful.

If you were to work as if you were working for God and not your “stupid boss”, wouldn’t you be more successful? I would argue that you would be very successful at least within your own character.


B. By working for the Lord, you may start to find contentment in life.

Your job may be boring, and your co-workers may be annoying, but what your hands have found to do can be something that you honor God by doing.


C. Colossians 3:23 dispels the popular myth that if I’m working hard in the material world, I must be worldly.

No, we have a biblical admonition to work hard in the secular workplace. Therefore faith and ambition cannot be opposed.

IV. The Complementary Nature of Contentment and Ambition


A. Many have difficulty because their ambition overrides their ability to have peace.

They are so hungry to be successful that they cannot be peaceful anymore. I have been in that boat many times, so I understand the argument.

But since there is a biblical admonition to work and provide valuable service, and there is also a biblical admonition to be content, we know that both must be true.

God would not ask people to do things that are impossible or mutually exclusive. Therefore in some way, it must be possible to be content and ambitious.

When used correctly, ambition and contentment can have a symbiotic relationship, but it all depends on your mentality.

Attitude is always the key.

The key is that both your contentment and your ambition must exist in the present moment.

When you look into the future constantly or look constantly outside yourself at what you don’t have, you will find it hard to be content.

Also if you are constantly focused on the outcome of your ambition, it will be difficult to be content.

Rather you need to be ambitious for the present moment. Release your need to control the outcome, or the results, of your ambition.

When ambition exists right now, it is powerful. When I become ambitious for the present moment I can concentrate on the work right in front of me. And I can focus on doing the best I can right now. That is present-focused ambition.

And this present focus creates peace. Living in the past or present creates anxiety. But anxiety has a hard time living in the present.

When my goal is to work for the Lord and not for men, but I am content no matter the final results of my work – I am a content ambitious man.

I love goals and I am chasing outcomes in my life. So in no way am I suggesting you not have goals, plans, or things you are pursuing. But what you must do is what the ship captain does. He pulls out his map, marks the port he is sailing to, puts the map away, and sets sail, focusing on the process of sailing rather than an obsession with the port he is sailing to.

So be sure to have goals, but once you set your goals, put them away. Glance at them from time to time to check progress and course correct if you are going the wrong way. But do not obsess over how long it is taking to get there or how difficult it is. You must exist in the present.

The way to be the content ambitious man is to ground your ambition and contentment in the present moment.

Be ambitious for “the now”.

Concentrate that focus on the present and let go of your need to control the outcome. Trying to control the results is a surefire way to create anxiety in your life.

Where contentment provides peace amidst challenges, and ambition drives growth and progress.

V. Contentment: A Foundation for Healthy Ambition

Contentment is “present-oriented”. You are content when you look at what you have right now and are at peace with it. You are not looking outside yourself and generating envy for what you don’t have. You simply have peace with what you do have.

Contentment, therefore, is the foundation for ambition. As you ground yourself in the present to be content, you then. Have a good starting point to “leash” your ambition. Not that you are limiting yourself, setting small goals, or avoiding challenges and work – but you “leash” your ambition to the present. That will give you greater peace.

If you are struggling with contentment it could be because you are missing out on gratitude. A simple but effective technique to work on this is to make a gratitude list. You’ve likely heard about that a million times, and it almost seems silly to talk about, but for greater contentment, count your blessings – have gratitude. We sing the hymn “Count your many blessings“, but how few of us do this?

The gratitude list brings your blessings into your awareness. We forget about everything we have because it falls out of our awareness and we become accustomed to it. But activate your attention spotlight and point it at your blessings and you will realize how well off you are.

B. Without grounding in the present moment, ambition will be hollow.

Has nothing to control it, and it will run wild. You will become obsessed with outcomes and rob yourself of the pleasure of the process.

Many make the mistake of thinking that if they are content and thankful for what they have, they will become less hard-working and less ambitious. That will only happen if your ambition is future-oriented. Turn the fiery focus of your ambition to the present. Align it with the now, and you will have the same burning drive you have always had, and it will be directed into a moment that brings you greater peace – the present moment.

Ambition that is future-oriented, and that is detached from the present moment will create unnecessary pain through greed. There is nothing wrong with working to gain material things. But without gratitude or a present focus, it becomes a hollow obsession that drains the joy from the process

VI. Ambition: An Expression of Faith


Ambition, when aligned with God’s statutes for wealth management, becomes an expression of faith and obedience through proper stewardship of talents and resources. Faith is action-based. Taking action in the direction of our goals does not mean we lack faith in God to provide for us. That is the type of mentality that results from perverting the teachings of the Bible.


God has always expected His people to take action. Each man is personally responsible for his own life and must act according to [Ezk. 18:20] This applies in every avenue of man’s walk: from religion to profession, to health, to finance.

A Man’s task is to row his own boat without expecting God to do all the heavy lifting.

Conclusion & Key Takeaways

The content-ambitious man exists. It is possible to be both content and ambitious at the same time.

  1. Misconception of Faith and Ambition: Some suggest faith and ambition oppose each other, attributing success to spirituality over worldly achievement. This is a fallacy used to justify personal failures.
  2. Success: Relative and Multifaceted: Even “failures” today possess more material wealth than historical civilizations. The poverty gospel notion and demonizing ambition are attempts to morally justify the lack of success.
  3. Biblical Examples: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and Joseph amassed wealth without compromising their righteousness. Their faith and abundance coexisted, showcasing that spirituality and material success aren’t mutually exclusive.
  4. Colossians 3:23: Encourages working for the Lord, promoting integrity, intensity, and permission for ambition in the secular world. This dispels the myth that striving for success in the material realm equates to worldliness.
  5. Contentment and Ambition Synergy: Balancing ambition and contentment is possible. Grounding ambition in the present moment fosters peace. Being present-focused on ambition while releasing the need to control outcomes cultivates content ambition.
  6. Contentment as Foundation: Contentment, rooted in gratitude and present awareness, acts as the base for healthy ambition. A gratitude list can enhance contentment by highlighting one’s blessings.
  7. Ambition Aligned with Faith: Ambition, when guided by biblical principles of stewardship and faith, aligns with proper wealth management. It expresses obedience through action while acknowledging personal responsibility.
  8. Taking Personal Responsibility: Faith doesn’t absolve individuals from taking action in their lives. Man is accountable and must actively engage in all aspects of life, including religion, profession, health, and finance.

Don’t Be Productive – Be Progressive

The word “progressive” is generally associated with some sort of ideology. People are “religiously progressive” if they think there is more leniency allowed in worship than what is dictated by the Bible.

People are politically progressive when they think more liberal policies would lead to favorable outcomes, though those outcomes are rarely specified. We are not talking about being politically or religiously progressive.

We are talking about being personally progressive.

What we mean is that you should be obsessed with making progress in your life, not with mere producing. Especially when what the average person is producing is mediocrity on a mass scale.

You have to question what you are producing. What are you building that brings value to the community around you? When you are being productive, it literally means you are producing something. Well, is what you are producing valuable? Are you making progress towards a goal with what you are producing? If not, you are likely wasting your time.

progressive

Not everything that is produced has value. Many people work four years in university to produce a degree, but that does not mean the degree has value. The same applies to the professors at these universities. They produce hundreds of graduates year after year. But what are those graduates [the products] worth? Are the professors producing graduates of value? I would argue that the average professor is not producing valuable graduates. They are producing entitled children with minimal skill and limited knowledge of how a functional society operates.

You need to make sure you are actually progressing toward a goal.

Learn to measure yourself. Track what you are producing as well as your progress toward your goals. If you are making progress, good, keep going. If not, make some course corrections and start being progressive. Tracking progress is one of the key factors in being progressive. If you know where you are and where you are going, you can track and measure progress over time. So be sure you have your goal in mind. Then set out to achieve it through progressive productivity.

Introduction to Purpose

This article serves as an introduction to purpose.

Men were not designed to place their focus on women. In fact, the majority of women do not even want the myopic focus of men. That is not what turns them on or gets their passion burning hot.

Unfortunately, what we learn in religion is that “women want a good man”. Well, that depends entirely on what you mean by “want” and what you mean by a “good man”. A woman does want a good man for a long-term marriage, but that does not mean she desires him sexually. Just because he is attractive as a lifelong mate does not mean he is sexually attractive. Religious men try to compress these two types of desire into one, but they are simply not the same.

Also, women want men who are not only good men but who are manly. While a woman might consider a good man for marriage, she will not be sexually aroused by him unless he can demonstrate some basic masculine traits.

Purpose

One of the key traits of masculinity is the focus on some form of a goal. A man needs a purpose.

It does not really matter what this purpose is, it just needs to be some form of life direction. This partially explains why women are primally attracted to firemen, policemen, military men, etc. Because the uniform signifies purpose and direction in life along with blatant signals that this man can exhibit traditional masculine virtues of strength, courage, honor, and mastery. Women are not aroused by the guy spinning his wheels, unsure of himself, and headed nowhere in life.

When God made man, He created him with purpose. Man was instructed to name the animals and keep the garden as his first job. After this God decided that man should not live alone, but that he should have a helper.

Understand that the first man’s purpose was created before a woman was brought into his world, literally.

He did not contort himself to appease her, because his mission and purpose were already created before she was even a part of life. This is how it was meant to be and what women are actually attracted to.

Religious men who lack masculinity and purpose have reformed female attraction to suit their mental schemas. They emphasize taking care of women, putting the needs of women before their own, serving them, etc. While those things are important, they will not arouse genuine passion and desire in a woman. They are also heavily over-promoted.

At her core, she does not even want to be the center of his world. She wants him to be focused on his mission, working towards a desirable goal, and wants to know how she can help him get there. Women were designed to help men; they want to do it and it fulfills them. It can never truly fulfill a woman if you make her the center of her universe. She will always feel that something is missing in life. She will feel that her life focus is misplaced and will become dissatisfied with you. You can combat this by focusing on your own mission.

You must find a purpose.

It really does not matter what it is or if it is the correct one. If you simply begin down a path, a better path will be revealed to you. When you start taking action towards goals, something happens that clarifies your purpose. you begin to move the waters of life, and they become clear.

Set a goal for yourself before you worry about women. This is how God intended for it to be. You must consider yourself and your own needs first before you can consider someone else’s. If you are going to support a wife and family one day, you must be in a position of strength. That strength is not possible unless you first take the time to build that strength in yourself.

While religious men glorify weakness and bow to the altar of effeminacy, you must do the opposite. you must serve yourself first. Not in a selfish way, but in a realistic way; in the way God intended. You must first do your work, create your world, and then invite a woman to be part of it if you so choose.

Purpose is found through work

When you try new things, work different jobs, learn new skills, you begin to learn who you are. You do this by learning what you like and dislike. Learning what kind of work you hate is an important part of uncovering your purpose. Many men never do this as they waste their young years accomplishing nothing and spending far too much time with other boys.

At some point, young men need to learn how to be alone and spend time working, developing their own skills. You can start this work now. Even if you are “busy” with your current life, find a few minutes each day to learn about yourself or to develop new skills.

Other men can tell when you have no purpose.

If you are lacking a purpose, other men can smell it a mile away. It gives off the scent of decaying dreams. If you are interested in gaining the respect of men, you need to work on your purpose.

When it comes to finding your purpose, ignore the advice of everyone but yourself. If you would not switch lives with them, ignore their advice. I ignore the advice of 90% of men and 98% of religious men because I do not want my life to look like theirs. I ignore religious men more often because most of them make the mistake of conflating spiritual virtue with masculine virtue. The two are separate and should remain that way.

People give advice based on the results of their actions. If you do not want the same results they got, then do not copy their actions.

You are the only one who knows what you truly want.

Ignore everyone who tells you what career to choose. You must decide for yourself, ignoring every bit of advice. While a few people may have insight into your skills or character that you do not have and it is fine to consider their words, for the most part, you should listen only to yourself.

Spend time alone discovering your natural inclinations. Figure out what you are good at naturally, what you enjoy doing, what you could be better at the majority of the population at doing, and find out what is valuable in the market.

Once you know yourself, then you can win. Develop skills and purpose becomes clear. As mystical as that sounds, it is the truth. As soon as you get moving, you begin to become aware of what you want to spend your life doing. so get moving early.

Summary

Instant Action

  1. Spend time with yourself. Learn about yourself, ask questions and look for the answers.
  2. Do not contort yourself to accommodate a woman. you are a man with a purpose first. You will never be your best if you make a woman the focus of your life.
  3. Spend time working and developing skills. This allows you to course-correct when you hate work and hone in when you love it.
  4. Ignore the advice of everyone. Do not listen to anyone telling you that you should be X, Y, or Z. Politely tell them you have no interest in their opinion.
  5. Never take advice from someone you would not switch places with. For me, that disqualifies 90% of men and 98% of religious men.
  6. Never take advice from men who conflate spiritual virtue with masculine virtue. They have no maturity.

Prime The Machine – Morning Hours

Prime the machine in the morning hours so that your entire day is a win. Victory begin in the morning.

“but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 1:2

“Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.”

Joshua 1:7-8

The morning is the most important time of the day. In the morning you set the tone for how the rest of the day will go. You can either waste your morning or you can use it to get the edge. You can hit the snooze button ten times or you can get up and get after the day. When you wake up you can make your bed right away, or you can leave the sheets in a pile until you stagger home that night. You can eat donuts for breakfast or you can cook some eggs. You can read books, train and work on your disciplines in the morning, or you can mindlessly watch television as your ability to think for yourself slowly fades into oblivion. 

Most people take the easier path every morning.

They want to eat whatever food is tastiest and do whatever is most convenient and requires the least amount of work. People want the path of pleasure, but that path never rewards you. The path of pleasure never builds your character or discipline. The path of enjoyment does not make you more successful or put more money in your pocket. However, the path of discomfort and pain is the only one that produces the growth of character you want. 

Every day you look in the mirror and you are not where you want to be in your life. You do not have the money, character or discipline you want. Worse than that, you are not even progressing towards those goals. You wake up every day, look at yourself and realize that you have made no progress towards those desired end state goals since you started them. You never prime the machine. You have never gotten the edge first thing in the morning and you waste every morning with activities that bring you no profit, neither monetarily nor in character. Today is the day that ends.

This is the day that you stop wasting your time every morning and start investing in your future.

Start writing your book in the morning hours before anyone is awake. Start training the body in the morning. Start eating better, if only for breakfast. Over time your morning victories will compound and spread to midday and then to the afternoon. Discipline produces more discipline. Effective mornings produce effective afternoons. Do not waste your morning hours. Prime the machine for a day of victory and growth.

Mantra

Crush the morning, crush the day. Prime the Machine.

Prime the machine

Application

You must stop wasting yours mornings.They may be the only blocks of time you have in your day to truly make progress on yourself and your goals. If you can have a productive morning, you can have a productive day. Even if you do not have a productive day, you still have the satisfaction that results from having a productive morning. 

Take all the disciplines you want to start and compress them into the morning.

Do not put them off until the afternoon or you will talk yourself out of being disciplined. Put your reading, writing and thinking work at the beginning of the day and do it instantly upon waking. Do this consistently for several days and you will establish it as a habit. Once it is a habit, you gain momentum and maintaining the discipline becomes easier. The only time you will have to make massive effort is on the days you do not feel like priming the machine and doing your work. On these days you must work even harder. You must obliterate your disciplines and teach your mind that you do not stop working for anything. Teach the mind that it has no say over whether or not you will be disciplined. 

If you can be disciplined on the days that you do not feel like being disciplined, then you will make true progress on your character.

We only improve when we do what is right when it is uncomfortable and inconvenient to do so. Stop wasting your mornings and start making them the most productive time of your day. 

Arm your mind with strength. 

Bring your thoughts into submission to you. 

Gather all strength to your mind. 

Conduct yourselves like men.

Ease

No growth of the individual ever came through ease.

“How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?”

Proverbs 6:9

The path of least resistance is popular among weak individuals. In physics, the idea is that a moving object proceeds down some path, and when it has to decide which direction to go, it always “chooses” the one with the least resistance. If a ball is rolling along a path, it will go the direction that has the least friction. Or it will go towards the lower elevation. Or if it has the option of going down two trails, it will pick the one that is the easiest to start going down – This is natural law.

It is natural to want to take the path of least resistance, but we must reject much of what is natural. We must resist the natural urge to impregnate every single female we see. The sexual urge is natural but not moral. We must resist the natural desire to lash out in anger, for anger must be contained. We resist that natural desire to conserve energy and be sluggish.

Many of the actions our human nature pulls us toward must be avoided.

Christians love taking it easy. Everyone loves it. But it does not promote growth of the individual. Ease promotes more ease. More ease promotes decay of body, mind and character. It never gives you what it promises: rest, peace of mind, healing. It only gives you anxiety and stress, because you know you are not accomplishing the tasks you need to be when you are taking it easy. You are not keeping your disciplines. Your character is not being built. You are not growing the mind.

Taking it easy is only comforting if you have earned it.

You don’t earn it by sitting in your 9-5 job, that usually never brings any form of satisfaction. You don’t earn the comfort of ease by taking more of it. Ease is earned by doing something difficult.

It is difficult to work hard enough to earn the comfort that ease can provide. Most weak men do not know what it is like to generate that kind of work. You may not know what it is like either. Unless you really earn it, there is no benefit to ease, and it does not even satisfy. 

Reject ease. 

Be a Man.

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life Speech

Mantra

Ease serves no purpose.

Ease

Application

Reject most forms of ease. It profits nothing unless you have truly been at the grind for an extended period of time. Remind yourself that it does not build character nor does it improve you. The only time it is necessary is when you are truly fatigued and need a break. Those times will be very infrequent, so do not assume you are fatigued. 

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

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