Getting Ahead At The Expense of Others

Ambition, a good enough thing within reasonable bounds, is an Apollyon among men, when it gets the mastery over them.

Have you ever seen boys climbing a greasy pole to reach a hat or handkerchief? If so, you will have noticed that the aspiring youths for the most part adopt plans and tricks quite as slimy as the pole. One covers his hands with sand, another twists a knotted cord, and still another one climbs fairly (and he is the one boy whose chance is smallest!). The hasty desire to rise is the cause of many a fall. Those who see the glittering heaps of gold before them are frequently in so much haste to thrust their arms in up to the elbow among the treasures that they take shortcuts, leave the beaten road of honest labor, break through hedges, and find themselves before long in a ditch.

It is hard to keep great riches without sin, and we have heard that it is harder still to get them.

Walk warily, successful friend! Growing wealth will prove no blessing to you unless you acquire growing grace. Prosperity destroys a fool and endangers a wise man. Be on your guard, for whichever you are, your testing hour has come.

-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)

See: Phil 2:3-4