Summary of Chapter 3 “Greatness Defined”

Summary of Chapter 3 “Greatness Defined”

* Pride attempts to compare oneself to another in order for self-glorification, and “claim greater importance” and acknowledgement from others.
* True humility is an act of greatness that was fully demonstrated by Jesus.
* Biblical definition of “greatness:” Serving others for the glory of God!

There were two things that hit me this chapter. First, Jesus does not forbid the desire to be great (Mark 10:43-44). However, Jesus defines for us what it really means from God’s perspective to be great: “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” Imagine that, a slave of all…everyone. When was the last time I thought to myself, “I’m going to be a slave of all” in serving others, Church, my wife, and family? Perhaps, all of us have some competing passion inside of us that desires to be great in something. It could be work or ministry, desiring to be acknowledged by
parents, friends, etc. But here Jesus is defining for us what a real, eternally worth greatness is and how one can really achieve that. The question is how do we do this? I believe chapter 4 answers this shortly so stay tuned.

Secondly, I was struggling (in my own sinful nature) to accept this true definition of greatness defined by CJ: Serving others for the glory of God. For one, I quickly became burdened by the thought of serving others because it sounded like so much like work without joy. Also in my mind
was the question of “why should I do this? Just because Jesus did it?” I guess in the past, I would’ve just gone along with the notion that I must do what Jesus asked me to do simply because He did it. But this is where chapter 4 nails me in the head and wakes me up.

Chapter 4 to be posted soon.