As men, should we aspire to greatness or excellence? I think it is part of our culture and part of our nature as men to desire position, title, esteem, awards, praise from others, maybe even just respect.
All of those things I am going to define as greatness. I am not saying that being given those things (because all good things come from God) is evil or sinful – but could it be that a misplaced desire for them is?
What if, in everything we did, in instead of seeking ‘greatness’ we sought excellence? Excellence honors God, greatness honors ourselves. I have seen in my life that when I clawed and scratched for greatness it was either frustratingly elusive or came with consequences to my spiritual and family life. When I have sought excellence that honors God, sometimes the effort goes unnoticed by everyone, sometimes God rewards with small measures of greatness that then, because my focus has been on Him, I can give proper credit to the true source of blessing – Him.
We want to be great men of God – but have we embraced the fact that what we do or who we are may never be known to anyone (maybe not even our family)? The key to this is humility. I used to think of humility as something I had to force myself into (which was accurate at that time) – I was incredibly proud and arrogant of my intellect, achievements, and talents. God humbled me, sometimes in private, but sadly, often in public. Once I understood who I really was, what God thought of me (and my sin), and the price He paid to redeem me, and that no amount of goodness or self-righteousness could have caused Him to do that (see my previous blogs for more of this thought) – I was really humbled.
I used to want to be a deacon. My great-grandfather was a pastor, both of my grandfathers were deacons (in the same church), my father was a deacon. I assumed as soon as I was married – presto – another deacon was made. I came to realize that I wanted the title, the prestige – not the work. I was looking at this last night – deacon means “one who serves” – do I need a title, ceremony, or nametag to serve? Of course not!
We are ALL servants to the King. No matter what title anyone may bestow on us, no matter who asks our opinion – we should always do what the King wants. We should always say what the King would want said. He wants excellence from us in every area of our lives because it reflects His opinion of what we are worth to Him! When we are pursuing excellence in our relationships, work, family, and most importantly self, we honor God. We demonstrate that we understand our eternal position and we work excellently, not out of debt (because it is un-payable) but because of thankfulness. With excellence, God may (choice, not ability!) use us in those positions of greatness by His mercy and providence. However, He will place us there, not us. I needed to be reminded of this.
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