Controlled Ambition

Jotham didn’t rise as high as his father Uzziah.

He didn’t innovate like Uzziah did. His fame didn’t spread to the ends of the earth like his father’s. His army was smaller, too. 

Next to the list of Uzziah’s deeds, Jotham’s resume is frail. And yet, his short list holds a victory that his father never attained:

“He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the LORD. … Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God.” (2 Chronicles 27:2, 6)

Jotham’s less-storied, sixteen-year reign was superior to his father’s half-century of power because he remained steadfast to the Lord.

Ambition has value as long as it stays in service to God. But as soon as ambition goes rogue, it rivals the indwelling Spirit. Unchecked ambition pulls a coup on the heart, kicks God off the throne, and tyrannizes our souls into compounding misery. 

To his own destruction, Uzziah let ambition roam beyond the bounds of God-glorifying passion. He did everything he ever wanted. But in the end, he found that without God’s favor, “everything” wasn’t enough.

Jotham’s ambition, by comparison, was modest. He conquered just enough armies. He took in just enough revenue. He built just enough of the gate.

But Jotham’s controlled ambition was a sign that he was content with God on the throne. Like his father, he grew “powerful.” But unlike Uzziah, he always kept his power in submission to God.

Unchecked ambition manifests in the insatiable need to make something of ourselves. Godly contentment fosters an open-handed trust that “we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:7).

Let God make you into what he wants.

An achieve-at-all-costs mentality will indeed cost you everything and leave nothing to show for it. “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).