Four Faces of Anointing: The Ox
The unsung hero of US westward expansion in the nineteenth century was the ox. Oxen pulled half to three-quarters of all the one-ton-plus wagons that trudged their way through the 1,200 to 2,100 miles of the Oregon, Santa Fe, and other overland trails. The temperament and strength of the ox made it the right beast for the job, whether that be pulling carts, plowing fields, or hauling fallen trees. And for the pioneers driven by the vision of a new life in the wild frontier, they needed the courage of a lion and the burden-bearing strength and grit of the ox.
In the past two posts, we discussed the vision of the eagle and the courage of the lion. When we talk about the ox as one of the faces of a leader’s anointing, we are talking about the strength and drive of the leader. Drive or ambition is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that it must be managed properly for the betterment of the leader and those the leader is leading, and for the fulfillment of the vision.
The Face of the Ox: Ambition
A leader cannot lead without ambition or drive. Motivation that is sourced by God is required. It is the ox anointing from the Anointed One a leader must possess to fulfill vision and purpose. This anointing gives us leaders peace, joy, and endurance while we continue to pursue vision. It is what the apostle Paul alluded to when he said things like, “I am eager to preach the gospel,” and “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel” (Romans 1:15; 15:20 ESV).
James 3:14 (ESV) says, “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” So, there is an ambition that is selfish in nature and not God-given. We often celebrate this type of ambition because it appears to get results—and fast! We hear people say, “Man, that guy is a go-getter, a real type-A. He gets things done. He will do whatever it takes to make what he wants happen.” But selfish ambition isn’t sourced out of the anointing. It is sourced out of the flesh.
An ambition that is fleshly will always lead to exhaustion, burnout, and even death. Like the ox, a leader can be driven to keep going and not stop, goaded along by his or her ego, until he or she falls over dead. In the frontier days of the West, an ox that died in the yoke would either be butchered for food or simply left on the trail to rot. That’s not what God wants to see happen to leaders He has anointed. We must test our hearts to see if we have unsanctified ambition, for it not only can take us off course, but it can actually destroy our lives.
Another thing fleshly ambition can do to us is a little less obvious. Selfish ambition can trick us. It can fool us, causing us to think what we’re doing is for God when it’s only feeding our egos. Or it can tell us that we are the only ones who can do what we’re doing, so it must be what God wants us to do.
The worst kind of deception is self-deception. When we are convinced we’re right in what we’re doing and we must get things done, we tend to keep going and plowing through whatever is before us. We stop resting because we are compelled to continue. We start driving others to help us accomplish what it is we want done. We even stop keeping and honoring the Sabbath.
In the Bible, we read about how the children of Israel made that mistake. The Israelites failed to give a Sabbath rest to the land every seven years as they had been instructed by God (see Leviticus 25:3). God added up how many Sabbath years they had not rested the land, and it amounted to 70 (490 total years). As a result, God sent the Israelites into captivity in Babylon for 70 years (see Jeremiah 25:11–12). But He promised to deliver them and bring them back to the land, which He did (see Jeremiah 29:10–14; Ezra 1).
Leaders need rest. We are not super-human. When we don’t stop—when the drive to accomplish vision pushes aside our very real need to rest—we are fooling ourselves. We are deceived, thinking, I don’t need to sleep or take some time off. I just need to get the job done. I can catch up on sleep later. I’m good to go. Sometimes, I think we’re a bit motivated by FOMO (fear of missing out), or fear of not feeling or being seen as significant, or fear of failure. No matter what exactly in our flesh is pressing us forward, I have found that, if we don’t take the time to stop and rest and be replenished and renewed, God will put us in a place to do so.
Anything that is built out of Kingdom ambition or motivation will stand the test of time, and here’s why: When God builds it, God defends it. Anything that is built based on selfish ambition, however, will not have staying power. Therefore, we can’t afford to leave selfish ambition unchecked.
Unchecked Selfish Ambition
We’ve already discussed the end of unchecked selfish ambition, but there are seven sins that will hijack our leadership and even our lives along the way if we don’t put to death our fleshly drive. They are:
Pride. Pride says, “I must do it. I don’t need to get help. I don’t need to stop. I don’t need to rest. I can do this by myself if necessary.”
Greed. Greed sounds like this, “Praise, money, power, applause—that’s what I want. And that’s what I’m going to get.”
Envy. Here is the internal conversation that’s flavored with envy: “I deserve this, and I’m going to get it, even if I have to take it from that person over there.”
Anxiety. Anxiety says, “What if I don’t do enough? What if I’m not enough? What if I can’t get this done or am not up to the task?”
Comparison. Comparison sounds like this, “What about that guy over there? Is he better at doing the job than I am? Does his leadership bring more to the table than mine?”
Competition. The first cousin to comparison, competition says, “I’ve got to win this. Can’t lose to that fella. I’ve got to beat him to get what I want.”
Lust. Lust says, “I want that. I must have it at all costs. I don’t care what I have to do to get it. I will have it.”
Romans 6:23 (ESV) tells us what the outcome of sin is: “For the wages of sin is death.” Unchecked selfish ambition and its hijackers will take our vision and plans down in flames.
The Antidote to Fleshly Ambition
We must place ambition on the altar of God and let Him consume it as a sacrifice. Sacrifice is the antidote to ambition. We find a good example of this in 1 Kings 19.
The prophet Elijah left the cave he had been hiding in to do what the still small voice of God had told him to do—to anoint Elisha to be a prophet in Elijah’s place (see 1 Kings 19:15–16). According to 1 Kings 19:19 (ESV), Elijah found Elisha “plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him.” Elijah passed Elisha and threw his cloak on Elisha. Elisha ran after the prophet, ready to follow him. “Go back again,” Elijah told Elisha, “for what have I done to you?” (1 Kings 19:20 ESV). Elisha “returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him” (1 Kings 19:21 ESV).
Elisha took his future plans—his ambition as a farmer—and sacrificed them. He did so to come alongside and assist a man whose job it was to prophesy to leaders. The oxen were Elisha’s most valuable asset next to his land. He put the oxen on the altar to follow Elijah. And Elisha later received Elijah’s mantle and a double portion of his spirit (see 2 Kings 2:9–14).
Taking Care of the Ox
Elisha’s sacrifice of his oxen is a perfect example of what we must do to take care of the ox anointing. Because we can deceive ourselves and think we are fulfilling God’s purpose and vision when we are only serving our own ambition, the best way to take care of the ox is to:
Crucify our ambition. We crucify it just like Jesus was crucified as a sacrifice for us. We daily put our ambition on the cross.
Sacrifice our selfish desires. We lay down what we want so that we can serve God and others.
Recognize that, what we make happen for others, God will make happen for us. When we help someone else walk in the fullness of their calling, God will make sure that we don’t miss out on what He has for us.
The call to Christian leadership is a sacred calling. If God called us, He will make it happen as we obey His instructions and Word. We are called to obedience. We are called to do His will and not our own. The ox anointing has been entrusted to us to fulfill God’s purposes and His desires. God calls us to sacrifice our ambition and our selfish desires. He calls us to do what He did, which was to take up His cross and lay His life down. May we say, “No matter what it costs, let Your will be done, God, in my life.”
