7 Bible Verses about Ambition, Warnings Regarding

But you shall not be so; but let the greatest among you be as the younger, and him that is chief, as he that serves.

And the tempter came to him and said: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said: It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him into the holy city, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,read more.
and said to him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: He will give his angels charge concerning you; and in their hands shall they take you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is again written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the proof. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to him: All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him: Get behind me, Satan, for it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

And there arose a contention among them, which of them should be greatest. But Jesus perceived the thought of their heart, and he took a little child, and made it stand by him, and said to them: Whoever will receive this little child on my account, receives me; and whoever will receive me, receives him that sent me. For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own life? Or, what will a man give as the ransom of his life?

You desire, and you have not; you kill, and are earnestly desirous of having, and yet you can not obtain; you fight and war, and yet you have not, because you ask not.

And he said to them in his teaching: Beware of the scribes, who love to walk in robes, and love salutations in the markets, and the first seats in the synagogues, and the first places at suppers; who eat up the houses of widows, and, as a pretext, make long prayers: these shall receive more abundant condemnation.