I spent a considerable amount of time thinking and talking about greatness. I would tweet about it often and tell people that we are all called to greatness. And that is still true. But one day I felt the Holy Spirit ask me, “Do you even know how God defines greatness?” When the Holy Spirit asks me a question like that it’s probably because I don’t know the answer. So I thought it was a good idea to search the scriptures and find out what God thinks about greatness. What I found was three accounts of Jesus addressing greatness. Two of which had an explicit definition and the other was implicit in that Jesus defined greatness by demonstrating it.
I want to take a look at the first explicit and clear-cut definition of greatness in Matthew 18:1-4
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus defines greatness as humility. Don’t you just love how Jesus teaches? The disciples have the Son of God in front of them and have an opportunity to ask Him anything. They choose to ask Him how to be the best. Jesus calmly teaches them about greatness by doing a little show n tell. He says you have to take on the stature of a child, humble yourself and depend on Me. Finding the lowest place in humility is what Heaven considers as great!
The second account touches my heart and blows my mind. Matthew 20:25-28 says,
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave– “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Jesus defines greatness as service. You see, life in the kingdom is in direct contrast to life in the world. The world says, pump yourself up, use everything at your disposal to get your way. Kingdom says, find the lowest place, become a servant of all then you will be great. Most people struggle with this mindset because it is totally counter-intuitive to the fallen human nature. But in the kingdom, serving is not just the way to receive honor, it is honorable in itself. Eugene Peterson says it best in his translation of Proverbs 15:33 msg, “Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living— first you learn humility, then you experience glory.”
In the third account, Jesus implicitly defines greatness by showing us what it looks like. John 13:1-5,
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Jesus demonstrates greatness by washing His disciples’ feet.
When you know who you are and where you’re headed, you are willing to go low and serve others. Jesus knew His disciples were going to step into a time of immense power and glory. How was He going to ensure that they wouldn’t fall into the trap of pride? He led by example, He taught them to go low. That is how pride is overthrown and defeated.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. “Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. – John 13:13-17
Jesus said He has given us an example. An example of what? An example of what it looks like to be the leader. We know we’re following Jesus’ lead when we’re willing to gird ourselves and wash other people’s feet.
Most of my Christian life, I was taught that service was essential and core to the life a disciple. I am finally starting to grasp why it’s so key and important. God sees the seat of service as the true place of honor. With this understanding, I can say that I’m called to a life of greatness, where greatness is defined as service to others and a willingness to wash their feet. I say this with excitement and gladness because I get to follow in my Teacher’s footsteps.
© Solape Osoba 2012
Spreading Hope 
oh my word Solape! thank you for sharing that truth. I’m convinced now more than ever that we need to be reminded of the foundational truths. such simple joy in this!
Yes, God is taking us back to the basics in order to build strong foundations in us. With strong foundations we’re able to host His weighty glory. Thanks for your feedback!
There’s another aspect you brushed against, but didn’t hug!
“He says you have to take on the stature of a child, humble yourself and depend on Me.” You addressed teh first part eloquently (as always!) but didn’t say much on the latter part.
One of the aspects of becoming like a child is “child like faith”, depending like a child on God.
We tend to want to know all the details or we aren’t sure we want to go. A child will ask questions, but trusts their parent (teacher, etc) at whatever level of answer they get. When we say, “How will we get there?” We want to know what vehicle, what route, who’s paying for gas and tolls, who will get the vehicle checked, what outfits to take, how much reservce cash to carry, etc. Whereas a child is content with, “In the car” or “we’ll go on the interstate; it might be boring, but we’ll get there faster”, or even, “I don’t know yet, but we’re going”.
Because a child takes it on faith, everything is an adventure, and there’s no drama or fear– and they get to do amazing things *because they let their parent supply both vision and the method*. (And good parents will involve the children in the vision– God does that for us, although a lot of us miss it.)
If we let God show us big adventures, and trust him to get us there, we’ll have those great adventures and do great things. Otherwise we’re limited to what we can do. No matter how big that adventure, how great a thing we might do, it will always pale in comparison to what God has for us. If we’ll just trust him toally– even when he gives us no details. This is true whether you are Barney Fife or Tony Stark (Iron Man).
As a child, I knew when my Daddy threw me in the air he’d catch me. When he dropped me upside down, I wasn’t going to hit the floor. My kids knew these things. My grandkids know these things. My great nephews and nieces know these things.
We need to trust Daddy God just like that. And then, we’ll find greatness. For some of us it’ll look like washing feet all our lives. Some of us may find ourselves standing atop a mountain, direxcting something huge (though it likely starts washing feet or scrubbin toilets). Whatever it looks like… just trust.
I think you hugged this point really well. We will never stop being His beloved kids and we will always have the privilege to serve. Thanks for posting this comment!