Topic: THE KEY TO GREATNESS – By Dr. Jeff Schreve – From His Heart 17 August 2022
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THE KEY TO GREATNESS
When I was twenty-three years old, I obtained my first outside sales job. I went to work for Waste Management, Inc. My job was to sell non-hazardous commercial waste removal contracts to commercial and light industrial businesses. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? In layman’s terms, I sold dumpster service. Although far from glamorous, the job was a lot of fun as every business needed what I was selling.
Early on, the company sent me to Dallas for sales training. Our trainer was an energetic, humorous, motivator. His goal was to inspire the sales reps to achieve personal and professional greatness.
DO YOU WANT TO BE GREAT?
Some people get the erroneous idea that a desire for greatness smacks of arrogance and pride. Not so. God wants you to be a person of greatness. He wants you to have great influence and impact on your family, your friends, your co-workers, your profession, your community and your world. God takes no delight in mediocrity. He wants you to shine brightly, not dimly, for Jesus Christ!
But just what is the key to greatness? It is not vaunting yourself and presenting yourself as if you are some kind of “big shot.” The key to greatness is found in humility. It is found in “regarding one another as more important than [yourself]” (Philippians 2:3). It is found in becoming “servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
HUMILITY vs. PRIDE
When God lists the seven things He hates, pride is #1 on the list (see Proverbs 6:16-19). God hates pride because pride is rooted in self. Pride says, “It’s all about me.” No. It’s all about Jesus – “Every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11). Simply put, we were created to give glory to the Lord Jesus who is Creator God, Savior God, and Sustainer God (Isaiah 43:7, 1 John 4:14, Colossians 1:17).
While God shuns and opposes the proud, He looks to the humble – “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). Humility is that special quality that causes you and me to live life with the wonderful understanding that we are nothing and He is everything. He is the potter, and we are simply the clay. We are totally dependent upon Him and can’t make it one second without Him.
If you want to see God do great things in and through you and make you a person of greatness, focus on being soft, yielded clay in the hands of the potter. Focus on His will and His ways, NOT your will and your ways. Focus on serving others and seeing others as more important than yourself.
If you and I will spit on our pride and choose to walk humbly with God, He will lift us up to new heights of influence and impact. We will be amazed, and He will be glorified!
PRAYER
God, it is so easy for me to start living life as if “it’s all about me.” It is so easy for me to want my will over Your will. Forgive me, God. I do not want to walk in pride; I want to walk in humility. Teach me how to be soft clay in Your hands. I bow my knee, my heart and my life to You, Lord Jesus. Do great things in and through me as I obey You and live for the glory of the King who died and rose again for me.
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