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Key Bible Verse: If … there is selfish ambition in your hearts, don't brag about being wise (James 3:14). Bonus Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

In the highly competitive agency environment I inhabit most of the week, the thrill of victory can be intoxicating. Winning is pretty straightforward: You generate profit, get promoted, and make more money.

My wife and I recently defined the measures of success for our family: generosity, service, and humility. Winning in our home means turning the other cheek and loving others as we love ourselves.

If winning as a believer means growing in relationship with God and drawing others into relationship with him, then we need to continually examine whether or not our actions reflect our goal. Failing to put our family first, treating subordinates as inferiors, and being political or divisive lead to failure. Our faith requires the pursuit of excellence without personal ambition.

Perhaps, like the rich young ruler, we in business face a bigger challenge than most: to embrace the character of Christ in an environment where the yardstick of money, power, and fame is visible to all. Yet as we go about our work, we need to remember that we are to fulfill God's purpose every minute of every day—and to remember that while we are in the world, we are not of it.

—Bruce Woolsey in Devotional Ventures

My Response: How does my definition of winning mesh with the Sermon on the Mount?

Thought to Apply: Have a great aim, a high standard; make Jesus your ideal, not merely to be admired but also to be followed. —Eric Liddell (Scottish track star & missionary)

Adapted from Devotional Ventures (Regal, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Rechannel my ambitions, Lord, toward goals that demonstrate Your character and advance Your purposes.

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