It has always been true that our greatest saints and our greatest sinners are made of the same material. The difference in the best and worst of people is not in their instincts and impulses but rather in the goals and ends to which these are directed. The desire to get ahead, to excel, to have more and be more than others is a driving force.
We call this desire ambition.
Ambition has often been the source of evil in our world. Think of the ambition of men like Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Napoleon and the bloodshed and misery that came because of it. However, ambition has also kept the scientist in his laboratory and the missionary at his post of duty.
So the nature of ambition depends on the goal or aim toward which it is directed. It's not to be stifled; it is to be utilized for the right purposes. It is not to be destroyed; it is to be employed toward noble ends. When some of the apostles came to Jesus desiring to be greatest in his kingdom, he did not rebuke their ambition. He simply taught them that true greatness consisted of being servants, not masters, and encouraged them to be ambitious toward that end.
Let us then be ambitious to serve the Master. Let us desire to forgive and to forget. Then our ambition will be a blessing instead of a curse.