Become New with John Ortberg Ambition Edition | John Ortberg
5 snips
Aug 20, 2025 The podcast dives into the intricate nature of ambition, exploring its potential for both greatness and failure. It urges listeners to shift their focus from mere personal achievement to spiritual fulfillment. John Ortberg discusses ambition's vanity and the quest for recognition, linking these themes to the insights of Pascal. He emphasizes the importance of directing ambition towards a higher purpose, encouraging a search for divine guidance to create a more meaningful life.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Ambition Depends On Its Context
- Ambition can be seen as either faithful aspiration or destructive pride depending on context and motives.
- James K.A. Smith and John Ortberg note that judging ambition often masks envy or laziness.
Ambition Versus Complacency
- The opposite of ambition is not humility but sloth, timidity, and complacency.
- Criticizing ambition can hide our own fear and reluctance to risk and try.
Aim Determines Ambition's Moral Shape
- What makes ambition good or bad is its telos — the end it pursues.
- Augustine remained ambitious but redirected his striving toward a different, purer goal.
