During a recent visit to China, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby shared this illustration in a message: One thing that strikes me about China is how hard people work and the pressure they are under. Pressure includes the pressure from within us to succeed.
St Augustine, one the greatest of the teachers of the church, living in the fourth and fifth centuries, wrote of the time before he was converted to Christ when he saw a beggar happy because the beggar had a full stomach. Augustine envied him because although he himself was wealthy, he was never at peace because of the ambition within him.
Ambition is good, but it can become an idol that pushes Christ from our lives. Our worship is only Christ. Worship is what enables pressure from within and without to be managed. In praise and thanksgiving we realize again the unchangeable love that God has for us—God's sufficiency.
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