What Makes You Beautiful: A 7 Day Devotionalනියැදිය

True Greatness

When you think about people who have achieved greatness, who do you think of? Movie stars? Musical artists? Presidents, kings, and other political leaders? Social media influencers?

In the world’s eyes, being “great” is about power and influence. When people accomplish great things, we consider them beautiful and worthy of our praise. And this isn’t entirely wrong. We want to rejoice in God’s goodness being spread around the world. But we don’t want to lose sight of what God says true “greatness” is: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”

Jesus says that true greatness isn’t found in reaching our potential, becoming powerful people, or climbing to the top with our talents. No—true greatness is about becoming a servant.

What does a servant do? A servant serves. A servant uses her abilities, gifts, and talents to help others and build them up. She spends her life for God’s good pleasure, not her own.

This can be tough stuff because service often means saying no to what we want and saying yes to what God wants. Service means rejecting the world’s idea of greatness (which is all about ourselves) and embracing God’s definition of greatness (which is about others).

But service is also joyful and freeing! Why? Because it’s what we were made for!

God made you to know and show his beauty. This was Jesus’s purpose too: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Even though Jesus deserves to be served, he gave his life to serve us—to rescue sinners through his life, death, and resurrection. Now, he wants to make you a servant just like he is, and this is what it means to be truly great.

Beauty is based not on what you do, but on what the Lord is doing in you: making you a servant like him.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for serving me by giving your life as a ransom and by sending your Spirit to beautify my heart. Make me a servant like you, and teach me what it means to be truly great in your sight. In your name I pray, amen.