Does the Bible promote ambition?
“Give me this hill country . . . and I shall drive them out.” These are the words of eighty-year-old Caleb, recorded in the book of Joshua, as the Israelites surged into the land and prepared to engage their enemies ( Josh. 14:12 ). In light of the obstacles in front of Caleb and the dangers they represented, one would be hard pressed to think of him as being anything less than ambitious. But were Caleb’s ambitions good or bad? Too often the word ambition conjures up negative images of Wall Street investment bankers rationalizing self-serving greed. Or, one might find the word plastered across a motivational poster with a climber clinging to the side of a mountain attempting an ascent. But which is it? Is ambition bad, or should we cultivate it in ourselves and in our children? Does the Bible promote ambition? When we do a search for the word ambition in the Bible—looking through various English translations—we see it in multiple texts translated from several Greek words. The word