Who, me?

Yes you, you Christian! I asked you:”Are you a great person? Are you trying to be a great person? Could you be a great person? Would it embarrass you to say, aloud, that you are trying to be a great person?”

Me? You must not know me. I can’t be great. I’m a plumber and there are no great plumbers or clerks or secretaries or bus drivers or sales representatives. There are great doctors and architects and statesmen and artists and great baseball players … but they have the talent and with enough dedication and pursuit and sacrifice they can be great. But not me.

Listen up! A great person has nothing to do with what you do FOR a living. It’s what you do WITH your living .Write down what you think it takes to be a great person. I mean it. Write it down!

Study hard to get an education. Get married, support and feed your family, go to church on Sunday, be nice to your friends. Oh yes – salute the flag, stay out of jail, don’t litter. Keep the ten commandments – don’t do this and don’t do that. Give your fair share to charity. Buy enough insurance so that when you die, your family can rest in peace.

You can’t be more than that? The heck you can’t! In fact, as a Christian, you ARE a great person! And I mean a great person without trying to do all the things you mentioned. As a Christian, you have the GREATEST PERSON WHO HAS EVER LIVED joined inseparably to you. He came to live right within you when you asked Him to be your Savior and Lord of your life.

Now wait a minute! I didn’t understand what you meant about being a great person. He may be living in me, whatever that means, but I’m still my own person.

Oh yes, you sure are! You can make independent choices every day, every hour or even every minute – if you want. But those are “soul” choices made by your brain with its intellect, emotions and will. You can TRY to do all those good things you mentioned as hard as you want in your own strength in order to be a “great person” – but I’m telling you right now that it won’t work.

Well, I have my faults, but things are working out pretty good in my life. I’m not too bad and I’m not too good. I’m a pretty regular Christian.

No – bad thinking! You are a GREAT Christian person. And you will always be a great Christian person because of who you are in Christ. You are and always will be a living child in the Family of God.

Well why don’t I feel that great or act that great?

You are like that young child who looks up to his parents and wonders how and when you will ever be great like them. You have to GROW – to mature in the ways of the God Family. You can never mature with just your own brain – but you have the mind of Christ to work with.

Now you’re losing me. What do you mean?

Your growth depends on these factors:
First – the recognition that you ARE great in union with Christ.
Second – the establishment of a trusting relationship with Christ.
Third – learning to recognize the guidance that Christ gives you and humbly accepting it.
Fourth – getting back on the right track when you slip up and act independently (which is called “sin”).

You say that I am NOW great, but I so often feel awfully weak. What is that about?

You were created weak so that you NEED Christ in you. He IS your strength so that you can live like the great person you are. But it is a day to day learning process. As Christians, we grow spiritually as we age. Let me give you some examples of what happens when we grow in the trust and guidance of Christ:
Will you show the guts to speak up against a majority opinion that stinks to heaven?
Will your concerns not stop at your own private property line, your job description, your city limits or your nation’s borders?
Will you ever give more than money to “charity”?
Will you care for a stranger – or even mop his blood?
Will you cry for both sides in a war?
Will you notice the fear of failure in a beginner, the cross of a boss when he needs to be King Solomon and knows he isn’t but still must make a judgment?
Will you notice the self-consciousness of an ugly girl or a boy who stutters?
And what will you do if you notice?
Will you ever send a gift and NOT sign your name?

You mean Christ can lead me toward those things?

Now you’re getting it. You have the potential to live like the great person you are. You have Christ’s power to bring out talents you never knew you had – just as much as Willie Mays had as a ballplayer or Michaelangelo had as a painter. But it just ain’t enough on your own – it takes those four factors previously mentioned.

OK – you’ve got me! I AM a great person! And I am going to grow to LIVE like a great person! So help me Jesus!