You know I was in the bathroom today (you know that's where you do all your thinking too) pondering the question, "What is greatness?" Of course, my thoughts on the throne are not always this deep but, at least for today, I was curious what caused great men and women to live the lives they lived. My answer to the question returned me to one of my favorite topics, priorities. It would seem to me that greatness is the wisdom and courage to set your priorities rightly. By rightly I mean that the things the are truly the most important are the things that are actually top of your list. Understanding what is truly important is where wisdom comes in. Courage comes in when actually try to live out our priorities because it will involve challenge. And so, whether or not you like my answer, if you were to ask me why there are so few "great people" in the world and in history I would say this: Most people in our world are neither wise nor couragous, some are one or the other, and very very few are both - and even then its hard to be both all the time. "What a dismal outlook on humanity!?!" you might respond - perhaps, I don't mean it to be but I just wanna be honest about what I see when I walk outside.
It really isn't that dismal though, I believe that greatness is entirely possible for every person, we just don't avail ourselves of the opportunity. I would even go so far as to say its simple - not easy, but simple. Jesus, in fact, made it his business, then and still today, to produce such people. Aside from the all the religous rules and regulations we typically ascribe to the soap box that Jesus stood on, he was really here for one simple purpose: to teach people to set their priorities correctly and give them the courage to live them out. We celebrate his life on Earth because, in it, he modeled what he taught. His priorities motivated him to come and live the life he did and his courage allowed him to live it out, even if it resulted in the cross.
Some people say that great people inspire them because they did what noone else could do. I think that's a pretty dismal thought. I would, rather, like to say that great people inspire me because they show me that greatness is possible. I pray for a world full of people that believe that greatness is possible in their own life. I pray in faith because I believe that will one day happen.
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So, I'd say that the only person who knows what should be at the top of people's priorities lists is God. Hehe, that actually can be read two ways. I didn't mean to say that God should be top priority of everyone, but He knows what everyone's list is and what those lists should be. [Though God should be top priority in one form or another.:)] Let's also say that by what I've gathered (from far too many sources to name) that my priority list is right as far as I can determine. I think "rightly" is determined by God, to maximize your usefulnes to advance His kingdom. And other stuff, too. I find it most hard to determine for myself whether God's priority list for me is the same as the one I actually have. And I try to listen to God, to ask what He thinks I should be doing, and some might consider that wise... and I guess it depends on your personal definition of courage, since what I find to be couragous wouldn't apply to the things I do (to take me for example).
Yeah, greatness is... difficult to define, since it is determined by people's definitions of things and their experiences against which greatness can be measured.
You're absolutely right, greatness doesn't mean the same thing to everyone but I think we're not too far off the mark of the general understanding. I would say, rather scandelously, that God should be everyone's top priority even if he's not. That's essentially what John the Baptist and Jesus meant when they said "repent and believe". It basically meant, "reorient all of the elements of your life in the context of your devotion to God." It doesn't make all those things from second place on unimportant. In fact, God as the priority actually compels us toward excellence in all of our other priorities. My devotion to God drives me to be the best husband I can be. My devotion to him drives me to come to work and do my best even in difficult circumstances.
If we're following God in a heartfelt manner I don't think we have to worry much about whether our priorities are generally right. And where they need tweaking, God will work on that in his good time. I do think there have been some great people that didn't acknowledge God but, in that situation, what drove that person and what was s/he devoting their life to? I truly believe that Jesus was the greatest man that ever lived and being so he is the our ultimate example of greatness. I want to take his values and priorites on as my own and I want to have that kind of impact.
Alright, now I'm rambling, more thoughts more thoughts(!), this is a good discussion!!
Yeah, now that I read my post again, I do think God should be everyone's top priority. It doesn't make sense to not have Him at the top, which is why we evangelize (for nonbelievers) and why we study His word (for believers).
Ah, exactly, "reorientation." Hmm, well, not to say that every other item on the list is unimportant, but can they be equally important? If not, then one's less important than the other, and in relative terms, the bottom of the list is full of unimportant things.
Other's greatness: the greatness of Jesus and the greatness of other people (say, Alexander or someone, who's subtitle is The Great) is completely different. Unless you look at it from the perspective of power. Well, the power itself is even different, but Jesus power was far greater. His Kingdom is far greater than anyone else's (especially now on earth), even at the beginning, for the church is just its earthly manifestation. It always has been, and always will be. Who knows what drove a person to greatness? Lust for power, most of them. Was there ever a great & powerful person who conquered lands in the name of giving the inhabitants of that land a better life than their previous ruler? Done all in the name of goodness? While God did see some deaths of people to be righteous at various points in history, Jesus reign on earth was exactly that (done for the absolute good), and done in the best way possible. People who don't believe aren't sure he "reigned" at all. But say King Richard conquered a ton of area in Europe. He could be described as great since he was apparently a kind dude. And I'm no history expert, so this is hypothetical. The inhabitants of the land he conquered were being persecuted and he decided to invade and take over to give those people the freedom they deserve. Everyone else who was described as great as far as my memory serves had to become so by being violent in some way. Hmm.
Okay, here's a crazy thought. What if when God manifested Himself on earth in the early times like in the Garden and presenting Himself to Abraham, and He looked like Jesus? Hehehe, naw that probably didn't happen. I wonder what He looked like. I was just thinking of how The Father was sort of violent (or showed His power through violence of some sort) and then Jesus was completely nonviolent, and what the similarities of their physical appearance was. Whatev!
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