Religion: A Pastor Ponders

An Exercise in Self-Assessment

by Pastor William Jenkins

January 27, 2006

He was a successful lawyer, big money, big name, big reputation. Everything was going his way - then came the emotional breakdown. He began to examine his life. His assessment was remarkably honest:

“Something’s been missing all these years. I’ve been aiming at the wrong goals, living by the wrong standards, making the wrong judgments. I was determined to be the best, fanatically, obsessively determined - doing whatever it takes, even if it means using people to get what you want and fighting them off when you feel they’re threatening what you have.

“In the end it adds up to a life governed by the ambition to get things for yourself rather than to do things for others. My actions were controlled by a desire for power, status, success, reputation and money. The end of it all was not happiness or fulfillment, but emptiness, despair, futility and a nervous breakdown.”

Unfortunately, we often have to hit bottom before we face up to the destructive cycles that entrap us and create a climate of tension within our physical systems. We humans are always tempted to think first of ourselves and our own interests.

Pride and selfishness struggle desperately to elbow out compassion and humility. We justify our actions by saying it is a matter of survival; but how well are you surviving?

To find real joy, purpose and meaning in life you will have to see what this sobered lawyer saw in a moment of rare insight: selfish ambition cannot bring happiness and fulfillment.

The apostle Paul instructed the Philippians to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.” (2:3) This is a hard pill to swallow for the self absorbed; yet it is the prescription for health and happiness.

Ponder this for a while.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org