THE MEASURE OF GREATNESS

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”  (John 13:14-15 NIV)

The Bible is a disarmingly honest book.  As the disciples sat at the table, in the hours before Jesus was crucified, they argued about "which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest" (Luke 22:24).  It wasn't a very noble conversation!  As a matter of fact, it was downright petty.  Now we might excuse them in a measure by saying that they didn't realize the gravity of the hour and the nearness of their Lord's suffering.  But of course, that's the point. They were so self-absorbed in their dreams of greatness that they didn't sense Jesus' pain.  Self-centeredness does its greatest harm not in intentional acts of evil, but in neglect and insensitivity.  So Jesus talked with them about what constitutes true greatness.  If you want to be great, He said, you will need to serve.  Service is the measure of greatness. 

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “New Testament Stories from the Back Side”

#5439 

BELONGING TO GOD

“You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body."  (1 Corinthians 6:20 Amplified Bible)

It frequently happens that the value of a thing lies in the fact that someone has possessed it. A very ordinary thing acquires a new value, if it has been possessed by some famous person. In any museum we will find quite ordinary things -- clothes, a walking-stick, a pen, pieces of furniture -- which are only of value because they were possessed and used by some great person. It is the ownership which gives them worth. It is so with the Christian. The Christian may be a very ordinary person, but he acquires a new value and dignity and greatness because he belongs to God. The greatness of the Christian lies in the fact that he is God's. 

-- William Barclay (1907-1978) in “The Letters of James and Peter”