What does it mean to be truly great? If you were to ask Merriam-Webster, it would say greatness is the quality of being exceptionally superior, important, or remarkable. This can apply to many things. A skyscraper can be great because of its height. A team can be great because of its winning streak. A person can be great by overcoming obstacles or by holding a position of power. We all want to be considered great in one way or another, but greatness might look different depending on who you are. You might find greatness by having many people look up to you or simply if your family and friends are proud of you. Maybe you don’t feel very great at all right now for a variety of reasons. That’s why it’s so awesome when Jesus reminds us that our circumstances—where we came from, where we live, or the opportunities given to us—don’t determine our greatness.
A man in the Bible known as John the Baptist needed to hear this just as much as you and I do. God set John apart for a special purpose: to proclaim the coming of the Savior and to prepare for his arrival. Many people repented of their wrongdoing and were baptized because of the message John preached. But John still had his doubts. John did everything God asked him to do, and his faithfulness to carrying out God’s work landed him in jail. His immediate circumstances led John to doubt whether or not Jesus was the Savior whom God had promised. John had some of his followers ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3).
Satan has a terrible way of tricking us into thinking our immediate circumstances are all there is. When everything is going well, it’s easy to thank God. It’s just as easy, if not easier, to doubt God’s goodness when life goes badly. When we fix our eyes on the things that go wrong in our lives, those situations chain us to the prison walls of doubt. They distract us from who Jesus really is and what he really came to do. The worse our circumstances become, the stronger Satan works to lead us to question whether or not being a follower of Jesus is really worth all the trouble.
Jesus is greater than everything we face in life. He comes to still our fears and get rid of our doubts. Jesus gave John physical proof he was the Savior who was promised to the world when he said, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Matthew 11:5). John being wrongly imprisoned did not prevent Jesus from coming to make all things new—to fix what sin had broken. And when Jesus was arrested, it didn’t stop him from breaking the chains of sin and death with his own death on a cross and resurrection from the grave.
That’s what makes you truly great! Your greatness comes from the One who has already done everything to save you. You don’t have to prove you are great in God’s kingdom. Jesus has already made you great in God’s eyes. You are living proof of the salvation Jesus won for the whole world. Be reminded of that reality when you look back in Scripture at all the places God has kept his promises faithfully. It’s as if Jesus is tapping you on the shoulder and assuring you day after day of what HE has already done for you.
