The Greatest Man that Ever Lived

The Greatest Man that Ever Lived
August 4, 2008

Matthew 11:11 "...among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than..."

In today's society, we create our own fantasy world, where we are the center of the universe. We beg for someone to enable the fantasy of us turning into something great, someone respectable. We have this image in our heads of an idol that others may marvel at our abilities, feats, and accomplishments. Yet we drive every morning in our average car to our average job for an average pay and go home to our average house. None of us is the modern day idol we'd like to become so we click on the TV or log on to our favorite place in hopes of pretending our average life isn't real. We have this innate desire to be great in men's eyes and all fall far short of being an iconic figure of worship.

We are focused in the wrong direction when it comes to winning other's respect. We need to be focused on what God thinks of us and not man. We can win at everything in life and work hard to become something great so that men will applaud our efforts, yet it doesn't matter. When it is all said and done, no one will care how many people typed in our name as a search engine mover, especially God. God does not care how much money you make or how many people wear the sneaker with your name on it. God does not care how many letters you have after your name and whether men write about you and your work. God does not care if anyone on this earth is impressed with you, as He is not moved by the power of the swing vote.

There is a way to God's attention and there is a formula for being great. Do things exactly the way John the Baptist would do things and you'll be great in God's eyes. John the Baptist is said to be the greatest man that ever lived. Yes, the weirdo, who lived in the desert wearing camel hair and eating bugs, was the greatest man. This simple man, who had nothing the world desires, was worthy of respect. Jesus said so. Jesus declared, out loud, that John the Baptist was great. No amount of earthly respect could garner the title that Jesus bestowed upon John the Baptist.

What made John the Baptist so great in God's eyes? What miracles did John perform? What nation did John lead? What notoriety did he have in the world at the time? Nothing. None of the above. John the Baptist did not do anything that we would deem worthy of respect, but God bestowed upon him the face of satisfaction. John got a nod from God simply because he made sure everything he did was to bring about the work of the Lord. John took every task in his life and made sure it got the Lord's work done. Nothing more and nothing less. John did only the things necessary for pointing the world toward God and avoided anything that pointed the world's eyes elsewhere. And he did this no matter how it made him look or how uncomfortable it may have seemed. John cared about only one thing, the Lord's work, not himself.

Figure out what impresses God and become just that. Get God's attention and a nod of respect from Him, John the Baptist did.

1. Want to be the greatest man or woman that ever lived?
2. Are you willing to give up everything in your life that doesn't point to God?
3. Are you willing to do it no matter how silly it makes you look?

Additional scriptures for study: Matt 11, Matt 14, Jn 3, Jn 4, Jn 12:43, Gal 1:10