My parents pastored a small church right outside of Baltimore, and I grew up in a great home. But for a good part of my life, I believed I was mediocre. The Enemy had whispered in my ear that there wasn’t anything significant or special about me. However, from age 16 to 23, God took me on a journey of discovery where I learned He had put greatness inside of me. Now, I want everyone to realize that God has placed that same greatness inside of them, too.
We are all made in the image of a big God, and a big God doesn’t make mediocre people. The problem is that the world’s path to greatness relies on self-promotion, competition, and manipulation. These methods are ungodly. While there is nothing wrong with desiring greatness, Jesus taught that to be great, one must become a servant of all. We must acknowledge our natural inclinations and consistently surrender our sinful nature to God rather than pretending it doesn’t exist. The journey to discovering God’s pathway to greatness often involves embracing our brokenness as a leadership pathway.
We are often prone to seek greatness for our own sake rather than to glorify God. If we pretend our motives are always pure, we will never address our internal inconsistencies. Part of our humanity involves caring too much about the opinions of others or feeling the need to outperform them. By accepting our humanity and our propensity toward sin, we can begin the honest work of spiritual transformation. This process is a worthwhile endeavor, even as we find ourselves wrestling with God to grow greatness.
We need the spiritual maturity to realize we don’t have competition in the kingdom. We’ve got to lock our eyes on Jesus, not on the person running in the lane next to us. Just imagine we’re all in track and field. The only problem is, one pastor is running the 100-meter dash, and another pastor is running the 400. Two completely different approaches, two completely different finish lines.
God has uniquely made us for a purpose, so we really can’t compare my wins to somebody else’s wins. Not everybody is going to lead something or build something or have massive influence in the world’s eyes, but everybody should get to the place where they feel internal fulfillment and a peace that they’re doing exactly what God has called them to do. If we don’t get to that place in our lives, it doesn’t matter how successful we are in the world’s eyes, we will never truly be content.
The future of the churches we lead rests on us settling this wrestling match with greatness in our lives. We’ve got to make sure our motives are healthy and our passions are surrendered to God. Then we’ve got to make sure we are maximizing all the potential God has placed inside of us, because for believers, they need a role model who is maximizing all that God has called them to, so they can go ahead and do the same in their own lives. And for unbelievers, their future is in the balance.
Stephen Chandler is the senior pastor of Maryland-based Union Church. His debut book is Stop Waiting for Permission: Harness Your Gifts, Find Your Purpose and Unleash Your Personal Genius (WaterBrook).
