Everybody wants to be great at something. When I was kid, my grandmother had a vinyl record of “Geraldine and Ricky” – Geraldine is a ventriloquist – and Ricky…well…he’s her puppet.
Ricky told a story about a preacher who was standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He had always heard how you could yell into the canyon and the canyon would echo it back. So the Preacher yelled – “Boloney.” – and he listened. No echo. He did it again – no echo. Again – no echo. So he decided to change it up a bit – “ he yelled – “I’m the greatest preacher in the world” – and finally….the echo…BOLONY!!!!
Truth is, sometimes we get to the place where we think we’ve made it, we’ve finally arrived. Life is good – we’ve achieved greatness. Then something happens to remind us that maybe we aren’t as great as we thought we were! The potential with that is we can lose hope and begin to believe we will never be as great as we are supposed to be!
When God created you, He wired into your humanity – a desire for Greatness! But the looming question is: What is greatness – what does it mean to be GREAT?
Greatness is defined as a state of superiority.
Greatness is often attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than all others. They have achieved a certain status, widespread fame, fortune, position and power, and can refer to a success in a field or in a sport. Our world recognizes the great ones with academy awards, the Golden Globes, CMA’s, The Dove Awards, The National Football Hall of Fame, Nobel Peace Prize, and others. In our world the definition of Greatness can be a little unclear – means different things to different people. Over time, we receive a lot of mixed-messages about what defines true greatness! But the Bible isn’t unclear on it at all – And the Great thing about Biblical Greatness is it gives HOPE for everyone to BE GREAT!
In Jesus day, people were hungry for greatness and when they heard about it and when they saw it – they were drawn to it! They wanted Respect – They wanted honor – They wanted love – They wanted freedom - They wanted power and Jesus was saying – hey – if you are looking for greatness – here it is!
Matthew 11:11: 11 "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist
When it comes the uniqueness of a human being, and when it comes to his special ability to speak, and speak powerfully, there never was anybody like John. As men just stood back and perceived him, they were in awe… there was never anybody like him. But if we look closely at what Jesus was saying – we can get a clear biblical understanding of what it means to be Great!
How can we Achieve Greatness? Get Clear, on your God-given Purpose (Calling) and LIVE IT!
John was the most powerful personality and the most powerful voice that ever spoke. There never was a prophet with more human talent and a more significant role to play in human history than John the Baptist. In this sense, he was greater than all the greats! Greater than Noah - He was greater than Abraham. He was greater than Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. He was greater than Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel. Outside of Jesus, He was the greatest human being that ever lived, based upon his human abilities and his unique calling in human history.
On this side of history, we have the tendency to look at great people of the past and get moved by their greatness. But they are just examples to motivate and move us to our own Greatness, toward our own calling and destiny. What’s great about greatness is that greatness isn’t about competition with another. We get a big dream and vision of being the best that ever lived – the best in the world. That vision misses the mark, because people become your focus, and when your eyes are on other people they have power and control over you
God created you so unique - every part of you matters, is valuable to His unique purpose for your life! Within his overarching BIG PLAN and MISSION. DOESN’T THAT ENCOURAGE YOU AND GIVE YOU HOPE – THAT YOU MATTER – YOU HAVE PURPOSE? And that…is no boloney!
One of the things that made John great is he understood he was created for a Clear, God-given Purpose Are you clear on yours?