Do you ever imagine yourself achieving greatness? What does your vision of greatness look like to you? Is it providing a great innovation in your field of expertise? Is it how you might be able to lead your family to success and prominence? Have you ever really thought about what “greatness” looks like to you?I really love the definition of the word “great”.
Great: notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding.Wow! Who doesn’t want to be remarkable? Exceptional? Outstanding? As children of God, we should all have a desire to do great things. As a matter of fact, it’s through our great work that our Heavenly Father receives glory. Matthew says it like this,
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”. Matthew 5:16 (ESV)
Listen, it’s ok to want to be great; the key is, how will you go about achieving that greatness? See, the world’s system promotes greatness at the expense of others, and to the full benefit of self. In God’s system, the key to unlocking greatness in our lives is choosing to serve…now, before you tune me out, I can back this up with scripture.
“But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant” Matthew 20:26 (NKJV)
The beauty of this principle is that we can choose to be great by choosing to serve! This is a choice we can all make!
Want to do something that is notable? Serve! Want to be remarkable? Exceptional? Outstanding? Choose to serve! You may not have a million dollar budget, you may not have all the connections you think you need, but you do have a choice. You can choose to serve.
Matthew shares a great truth about how we can be great when we make the choice to serve,
“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.” Matthew 23:12 (MSG)God’s promise to those of us that choose to have a servant’s heart, is that when we choose to serve, our lives will count for plenty. In other words, if we dare to be who God made us to be, then, our lives become great.There are countless stories of individuals who are remembered and revered as remarkable, exceptional and outstanding. Yet upon examining their lives closely, you’ll see that they simply dared to be who God created them to be by serving the needs around them. They’re no different than you and I, they just dared to make the choice to serve, they dared to be great!
This week I dare you to find a need around you and choose to serve. I dare you to be great!
Live Extraordinarily!
Jared
