God, greatness and the believer

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

His greatness no one can fathom.”

Psalm 145:3

It is a simple enough statement to make: God is great. Scripture is filled with His greatness. Greatness is part of His character, part of His Person, part and parcel of Who and What He is. He can do nothing apart from greatness, for it is His fingerprint, and all He does is alive with it.

But to define greatness in such a short space is difficult, so I will try to define greatness by considering what it is not: namely, mediocrity, which is the state of being mediocre.

“Mediocre” is defined as something being ordinary, lackluster, of moderate or low quality. When we think of God and His works, mediocre is the last thing that comes to mind. God is great, and mediocrity is to greatness what evil is to good – it is the absence of it.

As beings created in His image, this inherent greatness of God is vital to us, for despite the Fall, this seed of greatness lives in us still. No one dreams of living a mediocre life, having a mediocre marriage and family and being mediocre at everything they do. Yet mediocrity surrounds us both in the world and in the lives of Believers. The reason is not so hard to understand.

There is an Enemy of our souls, and he is bent upon remaking mankind in his own image. Greatness is God’s image, therefore mediocrity is Satan’s. And he takes particular delight in seeing Believers follow his lead. What should be our response?

Let’s look quickly at the world of sports. Tiger Woods is arguably the greatest golfer in history. In any event, his greatness is beyond question. This greatness was no overnight success but the result of years of effort. He pursued athletic greatness with a passion that shames most Christians’ pursuit of God.

So how does the Believer pursue greatness? God defined greatness for us on the Mount of Transfiguration by pointing out the supremacy of Jesus when He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

Human greatness is therefore summed up in the person, nature and character of Jesus Christ. Our only true greatness can come from being transformed into Christ’s likeness by the work of the Holy Spirit through our pursuit of Him with utter relentlessness.

There is nothing so great as the beauty of Jesus, and as His character grows within each of us, it will overflow with greatness into each area of our lives.