Can A Christian Want More?
Is it wrong for a Christian to want more?
More opportunity. More influence. A growing business. A better home. More resources.
Can A Christian Want More? Pastor Todd Doxzon’s message, based on Ecclesiastes 2, gives us an honest place to wrestle with that question. Solomon had almost everything a person could want. He built, accumulated, achieved, and experienced more than most people ever will.
And after all of it, he wrote: “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me; for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” Ecclesiastes 2:17
The problem wasn’t simply that Solomon had more. It was what he expected more to give him.
Pastor Todd gave us three words to help think through the difference between healthy ambition and something that can quietly take God’s place: Multiply. Mammon. Motivation.
Multiply
God is not against growth.
From the beginning of Scripture, multiplication was part of God’s design. He gives us gifts, opportunities, resources, and influence, and He wants us to use them well. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to build something, grow in your career, develop a gift, provide more for your family, or pursue an opportunity in front of you.
The tension comes when success stops being something we steward and starts becoming something we need in order to feel secure, significant, or satisfied. The goal isn’t to stop growing. It’s to make sure what we’re building still has God at the center of it.
Mammon
Money itself isn’t the problem. The question is what place it holds in our lives.
In Luke 16:13, Jesus says: “You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Mammon goes beyond simply having money. It points to the things we begin trusting to give us the security, peace, or control we should ultimately be finding in God. That can look like a bank account, a salary, a business, a budget, or simply knowing there’s enough saved to make us feel safe.
Planning wisely is good. Managing money well is good. But even good things can move into the wrong place when they begin to have more influence over our decisions than God does.
A simple way to keep that in check is this: Before you go to your phone, go to the throne.
Before everything else starts competing for your attention, make room for God first.
Motivation
This is where the question gets more personal.
You can be pursuing something good and still need to take a closer look at what’s driving you. Maybe you genuinely want to use what God has given you well. Maybe part of you is trying to prove something. Maybe success has started to feel like the thing that will finally make you feel secure.
That’s why the question isn’t only, What am I pursuing? It’s also, Why do I want it?
James 4 reminds us that our motives matter. But Scripture doesn’t tell us to stop dreaming, building, or asking God for more. There is room for ambition. There is room for big goals and bold prayers. The important part is being willing to let God into the why behind them.
Keep It Surrendered
Healthy ambition stays surrendered. That means the goal isn’t simply getting more. It’s being willing to let God shape what we do with whatever He places in our hands.
The message gave us three helpful shifts for doing that.
Move from gratify to glorify. Instead of making everything about what we can get out of it, ask how our work, success, and opportunities can honor God.
Move from gather to give. More resources can mean more opportunities to be generous and make a difference in someone else’s life.
And move from temporal to eternal. The things we build here matter, but they were never meant to become the source of our identity, security, or purpose.
That’s really the lesson Solomon learned. You can have more and still discover that more was never going to be enough on its own.
Check the Why
So maybe the question isn’t, Is it wrong to want more? Maybe it’s simply, Why do I want more?
Take a look at what you’re working toward right now. What are you hoping will happen when you finally get there? What are you expecting that success, opportunity, or next level to give you?
Psalm 139 gives us a simple prayer for moments like this: “Search me, O God, and know my heart.”
You can want to grow. You can build something meaningful. You can ask God for bigger opportunities and make the most of what He has given you. Just be willing to let Him keep checking your heart along the way.
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