Paul's Foundation Work: Ambition Rightly Ordered

St. Paul "strived" to preach Christ where His name had never been spoken—a holy ambition rooted in Christian love and respect for others' labour. When converted, Paul possessed knowledge and executive talent that would have secured him prominence in Jerusalem's leadership. Instead, he retreated to Arabia for fourteen years, then laboured in Asia Minor, deliberately avoiding established churches. His declaration was unambiguous: "I will take foundation-work. Let other men have the building upon that."

This pattern reveals three principles worthy of imitation. First, true ambition serves God's glory and human happiness above personal settlement or salary. Second, foundation-work—planting Gospel seed in untried ground—demands the greatest courage, for it encounters difficulties others have bypassed. Third, every Christian labourer, while respecting the rights of others, should aim at leaving a distinct impression of faithful effort somewhere.

Paul's example corrects worldly ambition's perversion: the pursuit of ease, recognition, and established position. His missionaries—Morrison, Carey, Martyn, Judson, Williams, Moffatt—embodied this same principle, seeking new fields. Though modern circumstances differ (others have laboured, and we enter their labours), neglected neighbourhoods still demand special attention. Difficulties are not to be shunned but embraced as the truest test of Gospel devotion and sacrificial love.