Chuck
Colson was a self-made man. As a student, he arrogantly turned down a
scholarship to Harvard. He joined the Marines, set up his own law firm
and entered politics. By the age of forty he had become one of President
Nixon’s closest advisers. Later he described himself as ‘a young ambitious political king maker’. He was known as Nixon’s ‘hatchet-man’.
He
pleaded guilty to his part in the Watergate cover-up scandal and was
sent to prison. By then he had encountered Jesus. When he left the court
after hearing the sentence he said, ‘What happened in court today ...
was the court’s will and the Lord’s will – I have committed my life to
Jesus Christ and I can work for Him in prison as well as out.’
Colson
did just that. After his release he set up Prison Fellowship and has
since been directly or indirectly responsible for leading thousands to
Christ. I once heard him say on the radio, ‘I was ambitious, and I am ambitious today, but I hope it is not for Chuck Colson (though I struggle quite a lot as a matter of fact). But I am ambitious for Christ.’
Ambition
has been defined as the ‘desire to succeed’. There are ultimately only
two controlling ambitions to which all others may be reduced: one is our
own glory, and the other is God’s glory.
Blessings,
Roxanna