America has always been the "land of opportunity". I read somewhere that we are the only country that was founded on an ideal...that men ought to be free. We are also a nation of immigrants. Apart from the natives we met on our arrival, none of our ancestors was here more than a few years before the King James Bible was published. Our shores have been a refuge and a source of hope to millions....and this is true even today. But sometimes I think we set our sights too low when it comes to claiming our hope, exercising our freedom and fulfilling our ambitions. It is understandable that those who have lacked jobs and been denied education and opportunity would cherish the chance to learn and to earn and to see their families have a better quality of life. The combination of freedom and our vast natural resources has spawned a nation of entrepreneurs. We still will reward a good idea, no matter who has it.
But sometimes I wonder if we haven't lost sight of "the greatest ambition", which has nothing to do with job opportunity, new inventions or career advancement.
David said in Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
Here's how Paul described the greatest ambition in Philippians 3: 8-14 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
blessings to you in your quest for Christ!
Rob Smith
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