Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4
Paul could have said “fleshly ambition” instead of “selfish ambition,” and it would have been wholly consistent with how he often likes to describe two contrasting ways of living. How will we orient ourselves and seek to live, in the flesh or as led by God’s Spirit?
We can infer Paul’s understanding of what we might call spiritual ambition because it would be the opposite of selfish ambition. It is other-centered rather than self-centered. It means assuming that the needs and concerns of others supersede our own, not because those people are more deserving, but because we choose to give them priority over ourselves.
A spiritual orientation, therefore, voluntarily makes oneself last, which Jesus frequently enjoined on his followers. Whatever serves our best interests is set aside for that which benefits others and is to their advantage. To be spiritually ambitious is to seek the welfare and flourishing of everyone else, and not to concentrate on ourselves.
However, does this mean that we will languish because we are not giving attention and priority to our own spiritual interests? Such neglect would result in spiritual weakness if we actually benefit spiritually from directing our attention toward our own needs. But I do not believe that is how spirituality “works.”
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Luke 6:38
The nature of the spiritual life is that we gain not by focusing on ourselves or engaging in self-serving action, but through just the opposite: by putting others first. Constant self-concern prevents spiritual progress and growth, while selflessness actually comes back to us, returning in a way that benefits us far more than our efforts for ourselves ever could.
Those who love others do not end up less loving because they did not focus on themselves! Anyone who tries to become loving by elevating their own interests above others will fail miserably to grow in love. This should be obvious to us. The nature of love is concern for others and the center of spiritual life.
The same is true regarding the dynamics for the growth in all aspects of spirituality. We are filled by emptying ourselves and strengthened by strengthening others.
The spiritual ambition we need is to seek to give rather than receive, to automatically presume that others are more important than ourselves, and to adopt a posture of personal spiritual poverty. We need to welcome opportunities to deny ourselves and take up whatever cross we are called to bear.
Being ambitious in this manner seeks to elevate others and to discover that the same is measured back to us. We are lifted up because God lifts up the humble.