Attaining Greatness Part II ~ Precious C Philip

So last week, we looked at one of the primal secrets to greatness in God's kingdom hidden in Matthew 5:19. Incase you missed it, below is the link to read it up, then come back to read the part 2.

https://ovcss.blogspot.com/2021/05/attaining-greatness-precious-c-philip.html

This week, we'll be looking at another important requirement for attaining greatness in God's kingdom. It is revealed in the book of Matthew Chapter 20 verse 20-28. Let's read it together: "Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favor. “What do you want?” Jesus asked her.
She answered, “Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King.” “You don't know what you are asking for,” Jesus answered the sons. “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.

“You will indeed drink from my cup,” Jesus told them, “but I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. These places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.”
When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers.

So Jesus called them all together and said, “You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others— like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”

In this scripture above, Jesus reveals to us another key to becoming great in the family of God: service (the ability to serve others). Jesus, the Greatest Man that ever lived on planet earth divulged this precious knowledge to us in verse 26-28: "This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest;  and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others—  like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”

When someone gives you an advice or shares a knowledge with you, if you're wise, you would first seek to know who the person is and what authority they have to speak on that subject. When Jesus talks about greatness and the secrets to becoming great, you better listen to Him because He has the highest authority on the subject. He is greatness personified. There is no man, dead or alive, who is greater than Jesus. Therefore, when a mortal tells you the secret to greatness and it doesn't correlate with the secrets or truths Jesus shared about attaining greatness, you'd be wise to throw such knowledge, counsel or advice in the trash can.

According to the words of the Greatest Man that ever lived on planet earth, if you must become great, you must serve. I mean, Jesus did not just teach it, He practicalized it; He lived it out, and that is why His Name is still being proclaimed globally though He lived over 2,000 years ago.

You cannot avoid service and hope to be great. You must jump at every opportunity given to you by God to serve humanity in your capacity. This is why one of the most crucial things you must do after being born again is to discover your life's purpose - what God created you to do and the gift He has given you to accomplish that purpose. It is when you know what you're born to do and the gift you have been endowed with to accomplish that purpose that your journey to a life of real service to humanity actually begins.

A bird for instance was born to fly and God endowed it with the gift of flying. A fish was born to swim and God blessed it with the gift of swimming. Jesus was sent to earth to die for humanity and save humanity from eternal damnation. God the Father endowed Jesus the Son with the ability to accomplish that unique assignment. In the same way, you are born or created by God to do something crucial, something significant on earth and, it has to do with service to humanity. Whatever God has created you to do, He has already enabled you or endowed you with the ability, skill, talent or gift to accomplish.

If what you're doing presently which you believe is what you're created to do is of no GOOD service to humanity, but of you being served, you have not yet discovered your life's purpose. Your life's purpose for instance cannot be to defraud people of their hard earned money and fill their lives with sorrow and misery. It cannot be to steal people's material possessions and inflict pain on them. It cannot be to engage in prostitution and spread STDs or make men wallow in sexual immorality and live in bondage to sexual addictions. It cannot! It can't be to produce and sell alcoholic beverages or cigarettes that sends its consumers to their early graves.

"Whatever you are created to do must be of good, healthy, and spiritual service to humanity."

Any Christian who wants to be great therefore, must discover their purpose for being created and know the gift/special ability God has endowed them with to fulfil their life's purpose, then serve humanity by fulfilling their purpose like Jesus served us by fulfilling the purpose of His coming to earth.

"Your greatness on earth lies in discovering your life's purpose and serving it to humanity."

If you're too big to serve people, you are too big to handle greatness.
If you're too proud to serve people, you are not fit for greatness because only the humble qualifies for exaltation. "For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14b

"Service to people is the ladder to greatness."

If you've been jobless for many years, stop waiting for white collar jobs. Pick up a legit low-skilled or manual work and start serving people if God is leading you to do that. If not, sit down and discover your area of gifting and deploy your gift to employ yourself and employ other people that will aid you in rendering good service to humanity. There is a space for you out there and no one can fill it. So, find your space and serve. People need what you have. You have something valuable to offer the world - everyone created by God does. As you serve, you climb the ladder to greatness.

To discover your life's purpose, you can purchase my Ebook that guides you on the discovery of your life's purpose. It is available for safe download @
selar.co/preciouscphilip
(for those in Nigeria)

payhip.com/preciouscphilip
(for those outside Nigeria).

Shalom.
Check again coming Monday for another life-changing piece.