![\"Tomorrow](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/731\/2016\/11\/Tomorrow-is-for-No-One-intro-300x158.jpg\")
Have you ever wanted to be great?<\/p>\nHave you ever wanted to be great?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been a dream of mine ever since I was little.\u00a0 One of my earliest ways of obtaining glory for myself was to become a great football player.\u00a0 As kids, we used to play football at a strip of field at Kenwood Elementary School in Champaign, Illinois, only a block away from our house.\u00a0 I used to be very fast and quick (Mr. Outside), while my twin, Danny, was good at bulling his way through defenders twice his size (Mr. Inside).<\/p>\n
Because I was fast, especially in long distances compared to my peers, I also wanted to be the world\u2019s record holder in the mile.\u00a0 Jim Ryun was my hero, and he held the world record in the mile from 1966 until 1975, at 3 minutes 51.1 seconds (I\u2019m doing this from a 35-40 year old memory \u2013 I wonder if I\u2019m right!)\u00a0 But every year I ran, more of my peers seemed to be as fast, and I knew it was all over in 7th<\/sup> grade when a stupid sprinter almost caught me in the mile during P.E. class.\u00a0 The best mile I ever ran in my life was a 5:26.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll spare you my foray into politics but feel I must make mention of my desire to obtain glory by becoming a famous writer.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always wanted to write, ever since I was in second grade.\u00a0 In fifth grade I started on a novel about a fictitious family that sounded suspiciously like my own, except that the twins were not named Danny and Charlie but Danny and Danny (this way, there was comedic material in the confusion of names, as well as a way for me to exempt myself from the stupid things the kids in novel did).\u00a0 Somehow, my first novel, Tomorrow is for No One<\/em>, never found a publisher, much less make me a famous novelist.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a part of me that still wants to be great.\u00a0 But if not as a football player, miler, politician, or writer \u2013 then as what?\u00a0 Maybe there\u2019s another way to think about human greatness.<\/p>\n Who are the great men and women of history?<\/p>\n Most naturally, we might think of people like Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Charlemagne, Napoleon, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln.\u00a0 Some might more naturally think of people like Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, William Shakespeare, Beethoven, or Picasso.\u00a0 We might think of world leaders or even some of the heroes of the Bible.<\/p>\n But Jesus\u2019 teaching on greatness calls into question the standard by which we measure greatness.\u00a0 Greatness, in our common understanding of greatness, comes in a number of different varieties.\u00a0 We call some great simply because of the magnitude of their accomplishments.\u00a0 Julius Caesar and Napoleon are generally considered to be \u201cgreat,\u201d based on the magnitude of their dreams and successes.\u00a0 As grand as their achievements are by certain standards, there\u2019s a part of us that realizes that world conquest and domination is not a good measure of greatness.\u00a0 We know this because we would stop short of calling Adolph Hitler great, in spite of his incredible achievements.<\/p>\n Some are great because they have nearly superhuman powers: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, and a host of other athletes we idolize.\u00a0 Others are great because they\u2019re excellent at what they do: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and the scientists, writers, composers, and artists such as those I listed above.<\/p>\n All of these are great in their own way.\u00a0 And all of them will pass away with this earth.<\/p>\n But today Jesus offers wannabe great men like me a way to achieve true and permanent greatness.\u00a0 The funny thing is that it\u2019s 180 degrees away from the normal paths to human greatness.\u00a0 Normally, greatness begins and ends with me<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019m<\/em> great because I\u2019ve<\/em> done this.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about me and what I\u2019ve done and the attention that people pay to me.<\/p>\n Not so in Jesus\u2019 kingdom.\u00a0 \u201cWhoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant.\u00a0 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 As many times as I\u2019ve read, heard, and meditated on this passage, it still jars me.\u00a0 Not as much as it used to, but it jars me, because it\u2019s so contrary to everything the world tries to teach me.\u00a0 In fact, to most people it will probably sound nonsensical.\u00a0 How can being a servant \u2013 or slave<\/em> \u2013 be a path to greatness?<\/p>\n It all depends on how you measure greatness.\u00a0\u00a0 If your goal is to have everyone bow before you and serve you, then serving is a lousy path to greatness.\u00a0 But if your goal is to be like God and to share in His far greater glory, then this is the<\/em> path to glory.<\/p>\n I find great encouragement in this passage.\u00a0 I completely acknowledge how difficult this path is.\u00a0 There are times when I silently serve and almost begin to think to myself, \u201cWhat a waste of my gifts and talents!\u201d\u00a0 There are times when it seems as if no one recognizes the many sacrifices I make to serve others.\u00a0 I\u2019m taken for granted, ignored, overlooked, and underappreciated.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still not too crazy about it when the Lord asks me to serve in a capacity in which I know I\u2019m not very good, but the truth is that I\u2019ve sort of grown to like it.\u00a0 There\u2019s something contagious about serving, something more mysterious and profound than mere human glory.<\/p>\n In fact, in my more lucid moments I realize just how joyful and glorious serving is because I realize that by serving I am being like my Master.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what I really want, after all.\u00a0 What I really want is for the invisible audience of One to notice me and feel as if I\u2019m pleasing to Him.\u00a0 For what seems like slavery and thankless drudgery here on earth is perfect freedom and laudable worship in heaven.<\/p>\n The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.\u00a0 If I want Jesus, all of Jesus, then I must come to serve Him as He first served me.\u00a0 Everything about His life \u2013 from the way He was born, to the beginning of His public ministry and His teaching and healing, to His washing His disciples feet, to His praying for the disciples, to His Passion, to His Crucifixion \u2013 screams out SERVICE AND SACRIFICE!<\/p>\n If that is how the King of Glory came to us, then that is how we must go to Him, where we will find greatness.\u00a0 The amazing thing is that He who is<\/em> glory is willing to share that glory and greatness with me.\u00a0 I can have no true greatness and glory of my own, but because of the humility of God who became man and the sacrifice of the Cross, I have been offered true greatness and glory.\u00a0 But I have to share it, which in this case, is just fine with me.<\/p>\n Do you want the greatest glory and greatness of all?\u00a0 Then learn to be the servant of all.\u00a0 The greatest glory and most glorious greatness you could ever hope for is the glory and greatness of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 By serving Him, as He first served, and by serving Him by serving others, you are united to Jesus Himself.\u00a0 And where is He?\u00a0 In the glory of the Father, at His right hand in heaven.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what serving does, you know.\u00a0 Heaven and earth are usually invisible to each other, and sometimes this clouds our minds.\u00a0 On earth, serving in humility looks like an invisible and thankless way to Nowheresville, while in heaven it is a visible and glorious sharing in the life of the Son.\u00a0 On earth, human greatness and success look great, but in heaven, it is often an invisible and insignificant thing.\u00a0\u00a0 Human greatness is often invisible in heaven because often it has more in common with the Other Place than it does with Heaven.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t need anything else today.\u00a0 I can still keep my dreams, if I want to, but I\u2019ve now got all I need.\u00a0 All I need is to figure out where the Lord wants me to serve today, for if I do this, then He shall call me great.\u00a0 And great I shall be!<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 O Father, whose service is perfect freedom, help me to seek not to be served but to serve; help me to know the joy of laying down my life for You that You may raise me up.\u00a0 Show me where it is that I should serve today, and help me to serve with joy and gladness.\u00a0 \u00a0May I serve with diligence and devotion, remembering that it is You I serve in all I do.\u00a0 Unite my service to Jesus my Lord\u2019s that I may share in His greatness today.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Points for Meditation:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Resolution:\u00a0 I resolve to eat my daily bread today, serving however the Lord asks me to serve, that I may share in His greatness.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I used to seekgreatness by being a football player, miler, politician, writer . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2856,"featured_media":7943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[912,1043,1163,2668,2669,2020,2667],"class_list":["post-7942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-glory","tag-greatness","tag-humility","tag-jim-ryun","tag-mile","tag-servant","tag-tomorrow-is-for-no-one"],"yoast_head":"\n\n