How To Achieve True Greatness

Want to be great?  Imitate the Lord of all: he humbled himself before all and became a servant for all. Seek not your own material gain at the expense of others but work for the improvement of all through charity and justice. True justice, not revenge. True charity will give so that others can thrive; true charity requires us to die to the self so that others can live. True charity seeks the outcast, the oppressed, the weak, the needy, the voiceless, and gives them dignity, strength, and a voice. True charity does not look at the sins but the image of God which is covered by them. True charity loves without condemnation while seeking that justice which overcomes all unrighteousness.

Want to be great? It is not to be found in the accumulation of material goods and external glory, but in the realization of the kingdom of God within. It is bringing the holiness of God’s love to all. It is not trusting in princes and their powers of war as the means of peace, but in the grace of God as the only real source of peace. It is not glorifying oneself at the expense of others, it is not seeking revenge against any slights you feel you have faced, but it is giving oneself over to the needs of others, forgiving the trespasses of others so that we might have our trespasses forgiven us.

Want to be great? The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, while woe to the rich, woe to those who laugh at the burdens of others. Become meek and give away your pride. Seek out holiness through mercy, and turn away from the vice of vengeance. Then you shall see the path to true greatness.

Want to be great? Pick up your cross and put the burdens of others on your shoulders. Love your enemies, do good to those who would persecute you. Follow love and you shall be great. For God is love, and in that love, you shall participate in the only true greatness, the eternal life of love.

Want to be great? Follow the religion of love, the undefiled religion which gives the gift of the self to all. Only in giving the self does God grant us the greatness we seek. Only in helping the oppressed do we find we find the greatness of God’s true religion. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (Jam. 1:27 RSV).

Want to be great? “”Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart”” (Zech. 7:9-10 RSV).

Want to be great? Follow the Lord. “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deut. 10:18 RSV).  Love those who are strangers, for they come to us bearing the message of God’s image to us. “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body” (Heb. 13:1-3 RSV).

Want to be great? Follow not the way of petty tyrants who like to impose themselves upon others. Instead, we must love. Love bears all. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love seeks to overcome all estrangement. Love desires not greatness for the self alone but for all, never envious of the glory of others because it hopes that all shall be able to attain such glory. Love justifies no evil but instead trusts in and hopes in the true good.

Want to be great? Let yourself recede so that God can be revealed. Let yourself recede so that God can become all in all. In union with God, there is greatness. So long as you set yourself up as the one who brings your own greatness you shall fall down like lightning and broken into pieces upon the stone which you land.

Do you truly have what it takes to be great? The kingdom of God is at hand. There are two paths before you. Choose wisely.

 

 

 

 

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