Motive Check -- Part 1

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Motive Check -- Part 1 ----------------------------- Date: 2/26/2000
Keywords:   "ambition" "motive" "selfish"


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Passage: Philippians 2:3*

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Questions

1. What are some of your ambitions?

 

2. How can selfish ambitions lead to a pornography habit?

 

Practical help

Motives can make you or break you.

In today's passage the Apostle Paul touches on the not so great ones, beginning with selfish ambition. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines ambition as an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power.

In the pure sense ambition is one of those motives that can move you from complacency toward reaching your potential. In the not so pure sense, read that selfish, it can move you into self-destructive habits like pornography.

If you're in the clutches of selfish ambition and perhaps dealing with sexual frustration the two can combine and lead to a distorted sense of what you need. You may feel that the illusion of sexual satisfaction (the only thing pornography can deliver) is all that's required to deal with your frustration.

Paul's admonition is -- forget it. Anything done with selfish ambition is a formula for future frustration and failure.

Take a few moments and try to evaluate your ambitions. If they all seem to line up under the 'selfish' column then maybe it's time to ask God to help you start a new column. If you're not sure you're on speaking terms with God, click here.


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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.