We all want it.
But how do we get it?

Throughout history, we humans have been clamoring for greatness. We want to be esteemed, to be regarded highly, to be respected and well-liked.

In recent years, the unfortunate acronym “GOAT” has been bandied about to describe people who are great in their field. The first who come to mind are all athletes, from Lindsey Vonn to Michael Phelps, to Aaron Rodgers and/or Tom Brady. (I know it stands for “greatest of all time,” but who wants to be called a goat?!)

True greatness is much quieter and much humbler than endzone celebrations and Lombardi trophies lifted high.

The world is full of championship-winning athletes and highly skilled professionals—people we may think of as “great”—who, deep down, are really only self-absorbed, narrow-hearted, lonely, heartbroken people.

Success is not the one and only thing that defines greatness.

Is success the thing that makes you great?

I don’t think so. Success may be part of greatness, but success is not the one and only thing that defines greatness.

In fact, you don’t have to be particularly successful or skilled at all to be truly great.

So what is greatness, really?

Greatness, simply put, is saying YES to being who God created you to be.

This looks a little different for each person, because not all of us have the skills of a professional athlete, or the genius of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or the calling of Mother Teresa. But we are all created in God’s image and likeness, and you can say yes to the unique way he made you.

Before we can get started on our quest for greatness, we first have to know some universal truths about how God created us. We have to know these from the get-go because they hold important clues for where greatness truly lies.

THINGS GOD MADE YOU FOR

  1. God created you in love, in his own image and likeness.
  2. God created you to live in relationship with Him, in union with Him, and to live with Him forever in Heaven.
  3. God created you to be loved and to give love.
  4. God created you for bravery and courage. (2 Tm 1:7)
  5. God created you to be an active participant in your life, not just a bystander, observer, or passenger.

THINGS GOD DID NOT MAKE YOU FOR

  1. Self-loathing.
  2. Sin. We all do it. None of us is perfect or sinless. But if you have serious sin in your life, which you aren’t taking steps to overcome, you will never be great. The struggle against sin may make you great, but languishing in your sin will guarantee a life of mediocrity forever.
  3. Selfishness.
  4. Fear.
  5. Passivity.

So as we strike out on our journey towards greatness, some of the things we’ll have to surrender are self-loathing, sin, selfishness, fear, passivity, and others—pride, insecurities, excuses.

We’re going to have to train our hearts to live differently than maybe they ever have before. We’re going to have to take up, in a new way, over and over again, the things that make us great: our identity as God’s beloved, faith that his promises are true, and the hope that comes with knowing that God really does work all things for our good.

It’ll be hard, for sure. And it will definitely not happen over night.

But we’re in this together, you and I. And together with Jesus, we can do so much.