Greatness in Christ alone

I had the immense privilege a few weeks ago of spending the day with one of my closest friends.  Having cultivated our friendship over the last number of years, we have developed the ability to share openly and honestly with each other about what is going in our lives and how we are experiencing God.  Indeed that day was no different.  Our conversation throughout the day revolved around catching up with each other and discussing the things that God has been teaching us.  It was a great blessing, not to mention that we did all of this while hiking in the snow and playing Frisbee Golf.  This friend also has a way of saying the exact thing that I need to hear at the exact time.  Sometimes, it's an encouraging word that leaves me strengthened, other times it's a challenge that I need in order to restore some aspect of my relationship with God.  Since hanging out with him this last time, I've been left contemplating the text he sent me afterward that served to do both.  It simply stated, "You're a great man."

I've thought long and hard about those words.  When I think of a great man, I think of people that radically changed the world.  I think of people like Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr.  I think of the movements that have been started by men like these and the great influence that they've had.  Part of me longs to hear those words.  To actually be a great man and to be recognized as such.  Yet a vast part of me refuses to believe that they apply to me.  Something whispers inside me saying, "Not yet."  I mean how can I consider myself a great man when I have failed to accomplish anything of significance or at least of that kind of significance.  It was then that I realized why I needed to hear those words.  You see our greatness doesn't come from our own actions.  It cannot, for all have fallen short of the glory of God.  Any greatness that we have is a Grace from God alone.  It was there that I found the truth in my friend's words.  The more I strive to be great on my own and to be seen as great the further and further I drift away from the only one who can bestow real greatness.

One of my favorite movies of all time is of course Star Wars.  At one point during Episode V, Yoda says, "Great Warrior?  Wars not make one great."  To add to that neither does any other great act.  Certainly, works like freeing slaves or fighting for justice are great things and should be pursued by everyone, but the doing of these things does not make us great nor does it add to our greatness in any way since our greatness is found in Christ alone.  Yet many of us seem to believe that our own value comes from the things that we do.  That our greatness is something that can be achieved.

It is this mindset that says we are only as great as our greatest achievement.  I mean just look at the sports world.  An athlete's greatness is often in question until they have won the championship for their respective sport, in some cases it takes multiple championships to solidify their greatness.  Take Peyton Manning for example.  He is a great quarterback.  His numbers from last year set all kinds of records, but because he didn't win the super bowl, many sports commentators called into question his greatness.  In business circles you are only as great as your company, as a pastor you are only as great as the size of your congregation, or the depth of your people, or the amount of outreach that you do.  Yet this simply is not biblical.  We are called Children of God, coheirs with Christ, friends of God, the body of Christ. These are our titles and have been granted to us by nothing other than the Grace of God.  Nothing we have done has given us these things.  We have instead received them freely from God.  That we have been made great through the work of Christ and that in our weakness, God's strength was made perfect.  So my friend was quite wise when he said that I am a great man.  Ironically, it has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with God.  This greatness in us isn't satisfied with simply being, however.  It drives us to do great things in the world.  It is power of Christ within us that makes lasting change possible.  That enables us to look at the world, see what is wrong, and make a difference.  You see great things do not make people great.  God bestows greatness on people who then do great things.  May we understand that our greatness is in Christ alone.