Seek not great things
God's word to Baruch
Baruch, Jeremiah's faithful scribe, was weary and disappointed — and apparently nursing some private ambition for himself in the middle of his nation's collapse. God's word to him through Jeremiah is piercing and personal: do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.
It is not a rebuke of ambition altogether, but of self-directed greatness — making your own elevation the goal, especially while God's larger purposes are at stake. To a servant tempted to build his own little kingdom, God says, in effect: not that. Find your contentment in serving my work, not in your own greatness.
“Do you seek great things for yourself? Don't seek them.”
— The LORD, to Baruch — Jeremiah 45:5 (WEB)
Don't make your own greatness the goal. Seeking great things for yourself is the wrong ambition for a servant of God.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Baruch was tempted to seek his own greatness amid God's larger work, and God redirected him. A leader formed here finds contentment in serving God's purposes rather than building his own kingdom. He resists self-directed ambition. The inner work is wanting God's work to be great more than wanting to be great.
Aim your ambition at God's purposes, not your own elevation, and check whether the two have quietly diverged. Find contentment in faithful service rather than personal greatness. Help your team pursue the mission's greatness over their own. Refuse to build a personal kingdom under the banner of God's work.
Leaders pursue their own greatness even while serving God's work, not noticing the ambition has turned self-directed. The blind spot is seeking great things for yourself under a spiritual banner.
Examine where you may be seeking great things for yourself under the banner of serving God. This week, redirect that ambition toward the mission's good, and practice contentment in faithful service.
Even in the middle of serving God's work, a leader can quietly redirect the effort toward building his own greatness — a name, a platform, a kingdom of his own. God's word to Baruch names that ambition and says, simply, do not seek it.
Is there a way you are seeking great things for yourself, even under the banner of serving God — and what would contentment in his work instead actually look like?