QuoteProject
The problem with spending your life climbing up the ladder is that you will go right past Jesus, for he's coming down.
John Ortberg
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that in the pursuit of success and ambition, one may overlook spiritual and moral values represented by Jesus.

John Ortberg's quote highlights the irony of focusing solely on worldly success and ambition, represented by 'climbing up the ladder.' It implies that in this relentless pursuit, individuals may miss the important spiritual guidance or presence of Jesus, who symbolizes a descent toward humility and the importance of prioritizing moral values over material achievements.

Themes

SuccessSpiritualityValuesLifeAmbition

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about prioritizing values over career success.

More from John Ortberg

People with the strongest and healthiest sense of calling are not obsessed with their calling. They are preoccupied with the Caller.
John OrtbergRead
It may be a very bad thing that I needed God to die for me, but it is a wonderful thing that God thinks I am worth dying for.
John OrtbergRead
Low self-esteem causes me to believe that I have so little worth that my response does not matter. With repentance, however, I understand that being worth so much to God is why my response is so important. Repentance is remedial work to mend our minds and hearts, which get bent by sin.
John OrtbergRead

Similar quotes

The whole realm of morality and ethics is something that has escaped the attention of women, by and large. And it needs the attention of intellectual women most desperately.
Lorraine HansberryRead
You could watch entire villages and see what everyone was doing. I watched NSA tracking people's Internet activities as they typed. I became aware of just how invasive U.S. surveillance capabilities had become. I realized the true breadth of this system. And almost nobody knew it was happening.
Edward SnowdenRead
The really important kind of freedom involves...being able truly to care about other people...
David FosterRead
Human material existence is limited by ideas, not stuff, people don't need copper wires they need ways to communicate, oil was a contaminant, then it became a fuel
Paul RomerRead
We're part of creating this world in which we live, but we're unaware of how we do that or even that we do that.
James TurrellRead
The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.