Tag Archives: Ambition

“No Insult Like The Truth” By Charlie Peacock

I’ve run my ship aground
on the rocks of the soul
There’s no lie like independence
there’s no demon like control
I’ve fanned the burning embers
til my house was on fire
There’s no parody like power
There’s no fever like desire
I’ve drained the wine of darkness
to the dregs of deceit
There’s no drug as strong as pride
There’s no blindness like conceit
I’ve railed against the mountain
With a pickaxe and a file
There’s no minefield like presumption
There’s no death wish like denial

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

I’ve adjusted my prescription
til I couldn’t trust my vision
there’s no killer like convenience
there’s no sickness like omission
I’ve amended resolutions and resisted explanation
There’s no trap door like emotion
There’s no pit like reputation

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion
There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

This is part of a series dissecting the song “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock. In the series, I am taking two of the statements he makes and exploring the depth of meaning behind them and what I can learn about myself in the process

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Dear God, so I’m up to the bridge of the song. I notice he says it twice. “There’s no cancer like ambition. There’s no cure like crucifixion. There’s no cancer like ambition. There’s no cure like crucifixion.”

There’s no cancer like ambition

So what does cancer do? It grows until it takes what is alive and kills it, replacing it with itself. It’s absolute killer if not treated and removed. If not cured. Is Charlie right to hold ambition out as an exceptional vice above the others? Is ambition worse than independence, control, power, desire, pride, conceit, presumption, denial, convenience, omission, emotion, or reputation?

The thing that ambition can do that is dangerous is it will ultimately lead me to replace you with me. Even if I am ambitious for your and your kingdom, the danger is that I will start doing it for myself and my glory instead of your glory. My own wisdom will start to take hold. And I suppose I could say that my ambition will lead to all of the things that have come before it in the song. Ambition leads to independence, control, power, desire, pride, conceit, presumption, denial, convenience, omission, emotion, or reputation. Yes, I don’t know that I can say this definitively, but an argument can certainly be made that ambition is like a cancer in my soul.

There’s no cure like crucifixion

The know that my sin creates cannot be untied. Sometimes the damage done in relationships by hurting others cannot be undone through talking and reason. It requires sacrifice and humility. In terms of my relationship with you and the healing of my soul, the only thing there is to do is ask your forgiveness and that the sacrifice that Jesus made be applied to me as well. I must die to myself. I must put myself up there on the cross with Jesus, crucified, buried with him in baptism, and walk in newness of life. There’s no cure like Jesus’s crucifixion, but my own death to self is part of that as well.

Father, help me to sink into you. This is my first day back at work after a nice vacation. Help me to walk in your light and your power. Help me to walk humbly with you. Help me to hear your voice in the noice and in the still, quiet moments. Help me to carry you with me to others. Help me to bring glory to your name.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen