The Quiet Ambition: Scripture's Surprising Antidote to Our Restless Lives

by Ryan P. Tinetti

Overview

Do you desire to do great things for God but feel like you're falling short?

Does your life feel small, filled with endless demands, seemingly insignificant work, mundane responsibilities, or challenging relationships? If your desire to make an impact for God's kingdom collides with the limits and disappointments of everyday life, it's easy to feel restless, resigned, and discouraged.

Scripture offers a better way. In one of Paul's letters, there's an unexpected, paradoxical call: "Make it your ambition to live quietly . . ."

In The Quiet Ambition, pastor and theologian Ryan P. Tinetti unpacks the rich spiritual wisdom of 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, showing how it can help you reimagine what following Jesus looks like. Tinetti explores four key postures for living out your Christian life:

• Live quietly.
• Tend your own business.
• Work with your hands.
• Walk gracefully toward outsiders.

This call to quiet ambition frees you to embrace God's presence in the small, ordinary moments of your life. By shifting your focus from self-aggrandizing desires and internalized pressure for spiritual achievement to faithful living in the everyday, you can experience real hope and discover what it truly means to live a life that counts.

Are you ready to reimagine what following Jesus looks like in your everyday life? Order your copy of The Quiet Ambition and start your journey today!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781514011898
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	11/18/2025
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Ryan P. Tinetti is a pastor who now serves as a professor of practical theology at Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis). He is the author of Preaching by Heart and writes the regular column "The Preacher's Toolbox" on 1517.org. Prior to his call to Concordia Seminary, Ryan served for fourteen years in parish ministry. Ryan lives with his wife, Anne, and their four children in St. Louis on the campus of the seminary.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1—Make It Your Ambition
1. Escaping Quiet Desperation
2. Making a Name
Practicing the Quiet Ambition

Part 2—Live Quietly
3. Noisemakers
4. Quiet Saints
The Practice of Living Quietly

Part 3—Tend Your Own Business
5. The Blasphemous Anxiety
6. God's Business and Ours
The Practice of Tending Your Own Business

Part 4—Work with Your Hands
7. Polishing Forks for the Kingdom
8. The Need to Knead
The Practice of Working with Your Hands

Part 5—Walk Gracefully
9. Mustard Seed Missionaries and Coffee Bean Christians
10. Them That Are Without
The Practice of Walking Gracefully

Conclusion: Think Little
Acknowledgments
Notes

Editorial Reviews

"I love how Ryan P. Tinetti writes—there is an almost poetic lilt to his prose. And I love what Ryan writes—insight, wisdom, humor, and hope all wrapped around a holy, biblical core. Thank you, Ryan, for The Quiet Ambition. It is what we all need and how we all need it."

Greg Finke

"This timely book is 'for those who have not done great things,' which is to say, most of us. It charts a better way to live to Christ without adding busy activities to the tyranny of our overloaded schedules. It all starts with an apparently humdrum verse: 'Make it your ambition to live quietly, tend your own business, and work with your hands' (1 Thess 4:11). Here is a tract for our burnout times. What really matters to Jesus, Ryan P. Tinetti suggests, is attending faithfully to our simple quotidian responsibilities, quietly witnessing to the sufficient grace of Christ."

Sylvie Vanhoozer

"What a wise, practical, so very helpful book Ryan P. Tinetti has given us in The Quiet Ambition. He moves so gracefully from the words of Saint Paul to the stresses and strains of contemporary life, giving us practical ways in which each of us can be faithful to the use of the gifts God has given us without allowing our ambition and drive to get the best of us. In reading, I constantly said, 'This book was written for me.' I bet that you will find it was written for you too."

Will Willimon

"'Unambitious ambition' is Ryan P. Tinetti's hope-filled response to the gnawing fear of failing to do great things for God. Drawing on many years of pastoral ministry and seminary teaching, Tinetti squarely addresses us in our exhaustion, burnout, or perhaps embarrassment about our lack of accomplishment. The Quiet Ambition offers an extended meditation on Paul's encouragement to live quietly (1 Thess. 4:11–12). This is a book filled to the brim with practical words of wisdom to be chewed and savored."

Hans Boersma

"Numerous resources help people build back their faith when broken by failure. Ryan P. Tinetti tackles an opposite crisis: how achievement can also break church workers, especially as we lionize leaders with a celebrity-like limelight. A veritable overachiever himself, Tinetti is well-qualified to address success's meretricious traps. Self-effacingly confessing his own fumbles and stumbles, Tinetti offers biblically anchored insights from an ecumenical array of theological thinkers, spiritual writers, and cultural observers. Tinetti's insights refresh the Christian tradition with practical wisdom."

John A Nunes

"In North America, ambition has become an object of hope, and paradoxically, a source of despair, resignation, and hopelessness. Yet rather than attacking ambition, Ryan P. Tinetti places it in its proper place, not as a replacement for our hope in the newness of life but as its servant. With theological depth and pastoral wisdom, the author invites weary and withdrawn souls to see the great things God is already doing to make all things new as his Spirit channels our holy desires for Christlike service through our little, everyday tasks and quiet, unassuming lives. A hope-filled book!"

Leopoldo A. Sánchez M.

"Ryan P. Tinetti opens our eyes to the glories of the simple, common, and ordinary—where God's highest and best work is done by the lowliest people. Laced copiously with captivating illustrations from books, media, culture, and his own sensitive ministry among God's simple saints, Tinetti skillfully weaves the thread of God's riches at Christ's expense throughout. A call to slow down and live more calmly for Jesus."

Harold Senkbeil

"In a world of constant motion and noise, Ryan P. Tinetti offers a refreshing invitation to a different way of living—one that leads not only to a deeper understanding of ourselves but also of God. The Quiet Ambition is a guiding light for those feeling restless and weary from life's relentless demands, showing a path to true purpose and peace. I wish I had read this book years ago, but as Ryan reminds us, it's never too late to 'Make it your ambition to live quietly.'"

Tanner Olson

"Using the wisdom of a scholar, the insight of a pastor, and the practicality of a husband and father, Ryan P. Tinetti sheds bright but warm and tender light on the underappreciated and often maligned path of unambitious ambition. With disarming wit and deft argument, The Quiet Ambition challenges a world and church still thoroughly infected by the criteria of total work to consider the goodness and beauty of a humble and unpretentious life of faithfully following Christ."

Joel Biermann

"The apostle Paul directs his readers to 'encourage one another and build each other up,' which is exactly what Ryan P. Tinetti's new book will do for those weary with a religious culture driven by spiritual ambitions. Drawing on a range of wisdom from Scripture, history, and pastoral experience, Tinetti's book is the guide we all need to the peace that passes all ambition. This is a saving message."

Richard Lischer

"In North America, ambition has become an object of hope, and paradoxically, a source of despair, resignation, and hopelessness. Yet rather than attacking ambition, Ryan P. Tinetti places it in its proper place, not as a replacement for our hope in the newness of life but as its servant. With theological depth and pastoral wisdom, the author invites weary and withdrawn souls to see the great things God is already doing to make all things new as his Spirit channels our holy desires for Christlike service through our little, everyday tasks and quiet, unassuming lives. A hope-filled book!"

Leopoldo A. S+ínchez M.