Andrew “Hammo” Hamilton joined Leah and Dan on Breakfast to talk about ambition, and how the biblical call is to be unseen.
Hammo began by bringing up his childhood hero, Australian cricketer, Dennis Lilly.
“He was the guy who you wanted on your team. And with Lilly as my hero, I kind of became ambitious and competitive at everything. It was a little bit sad, really.”
Upon reflection, Hammo turned to the book of James.
“He says selfish ambition ain’t cool. In fact he says its demonic and destructive.”
For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
James 3:16
“If our goal is to beat other people, that’s not so cool. But if our goal is to be the best version of ourselves, that’s a whole different thing.”
In Miroslav Volf‘s book, The Cost of Ambition he critiques the competitive mentality.
“He says, just be the best version of you can be. That’s the kind of ambition that God looks down and goes as good,” said Hammo.
Hammo quoted Paul’s words in Thessalonians, written to a church in Greece:
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
“So your social media profile isn’t continually dotted with pictures of you being amazing. Just lead a quiet life, get on with it. So that’s the kind of ambition I think the Bible calls us to.”
He encouraged us to better ourselves and stay humble in our pursuits.
Check out the full chat with Hammo below.