'Master, grant that one of my two sons may sit at your right and the other at your left in your Kingdom' (Matthew 20:21)
The woman's desire was to see her sons rule besides Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven. In my personal opinion, the request seemed very bold and was coming straight out of a mother's love for her kids.
But Jesus made a bold statement in response to the woman's request. The response He gave, would become the number one key secret to 'greatness'.
Do you want to know what it is?
After a while, Jesus called the two sons in private and told them His secret formula to greatness:
'If anyone wants to be great among you, let him be your servant. He whom wants to be first, must be the last. Because the Son of Man, never came to be served but to be a servant.'
(Matthew 20:25-28)
That's it. The secret to be great is to be a great servant useful to the multitude. The more you are useful to people, the greater you will be. A title does not make you great. There are people in history who held the biggest honor their nations could bestow them. But they were mediocre. Think of people like Hitler, dictators like Mobutu Sese Seko and others...Those people held the highest title in their Nations but because they failed to serve the people they were leading, History has classified them as 'Villains'.
A title, a position or even a gift won't make you great. Real greatness comes from serving people. If you are so obsessed with the desire to be served,to be fed by flatters, you will probably be famous, but History will not classify as a great character.
Unfortunately, these days, even in churches, there are leaders who are consumed with the desire to be served. They don't serve anymore, they want spiritual slaves around them. It's no longer about the lost souls, but rather about building a name for themselves. A church top priority should be the lost souls. When fame becomes the priority, then church growth will slow down.
Even in business, the most useful product, will be the greatest. The reason why 'Microsoft' corporation or 'Google' are great companies, is simply because they focus on products usefulness that will serve customers.
Under Steve Jobs, 'Apple' used to upgrade its products all the time. Do you know why?
Because they were obsessed with the desire to increase their products usefulness for their customers.
If anyone wants to be a mayor, he/she must be willing to SERVE the City. If anyone wishes to be a President, he/she must be willing to serve a nation. That's why the President is often called :' The first public servant.'
It's all about service.
A great minister will keep serving the community,like Billy Graham did.
A great President will serve his Nations and its interests, like Nelson Mandela did.
A great hero will carry the weights of the weak, like Mother Theresa did.
A great CEO will boost a company and its employees, like Steve Jobs did.
A great blogger will produce contents that serve its readers,
A great manager will serve all the members of his/her team through his leadership.
A great writer will publish moving books that serves its readers.
A great 'book character' always serves by saving the world like Superman and Batman. (laugh)
Do you wanna be great?
If yes, then stop talking about yourself all the time ,unless if it's useful to others,and start serving as many as you can. Ensure that your product is useful and you will surely see greatness.