To be truly great, we must be truly good. In other words, as Jesus told His disciples: “’But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Mat. 20:26-28

You may say, “What about Alexander the Great or Peter the Great? They did enough great things to earn that title.” True in one sense. They did achieve significant and notable goals. But with what kind of means, attitude, and outcome? If killing, conquering, exploiting, subjugating, and oppressing people signify greatness, we’re all in trouble. If narcissism, haughtiness, ruthlessness, and disregard for others goes into that, we’re in even worse trouble.

When, like Lenin once postulated, “you have to crack a few eggs to get an omelette”, greatness becomes a matter of who can break and destroy enough lives to get what they want and make it into history books as a result. Yet most people recognize that Hitler, Hussein, Stalin, or any such dictators were and aren’t great. They’re just megalomaniacs.

Closer to home– No one gets the “Employee of the Month” award by undermining their colleagues and grabbing credit that doesn’t belong to them. Or at least they shouldn’t. If, by deceitful means, they do get such an award, everyone else will declare “Unfair!”

So, what makes someone truly great?

1. Good character comes first. Just as a skyscraper can’t stand strong and tall without a deep and firm enough foundation, people need a deep and firm foundation of good character to build on to achieve true greatness. The higher we go in position, prestige, and power, the deeper we must go in character to sustain that. Otherwise, we won’t stand when temptations and testing come to batter us like forceful gales, overwhelming floods, and shaky ground.

That’s why Jesus said, “’Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.’” Mat. 7:24-27

Who hasn’t heard the sad and increasing reports of leaders who’ve fallen, both outside and inside the church? They didn’t collapse on purpose. They either didn’t deepen and solidify their character-foundation enough to begin with, or let that foundation erode through neglect. The “weather” of the world and/or “termites” of sinful thinking got to it. Much, if not all, of this remains hidden, which is why we need to daily keep short accounts with the Lord, letting Him be our “house inspector”.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps. 139:23-24

2. Good character produces the kind of attitude that produces the kind of actions that benefit society. We all instinctively know this when we say, “I have a great boss!” Or “He/She’s a great leader!” Or “What a great person/friend/teammate!” Or “My husband/wife/kids/parents are great!”

How does this happen? It begins and continues with our thought-life. Imagine good character as a delicious and nutritious meal. To get that, we have to add and mix in healthy, wholesome, and good-tasting ingredients. Carefully inspect each one, like a smart shopper and cook, to make sure none of them contain rotten, rancid, putrid-smelling, or even poisonous elements. The only way anyone would eat or serve nasty food is if they either didn’t notice or didn’t care. So it is with the heart-and-mind food. Those with seared consciences don’t notice or care about what makes up their thought-diet. They’ll watch, listen to, or read anything out there with no discernment, and even pass it along. As a result, their thought-life stinks and ruins their attitude and actions.

This reminds me of when we recently had our young -adult group over for snacks and games, and someone brought durian-flavored rice-cakes. Now durian itself isn’t necessarily bad or bad for you. It’s just very strong and noticeable. After we’d all partaken of at least one such rice-cake, one girl commented that “now we’ll all be burping durian!” Sure enough, love it or hate it, what went in affected our systems and came out! As all thoughts do.

That’s why we need to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5), only letting the good ones take root in our hearts and minds. Phil. 4:8 gives us the best qualification guideline for this:

“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

3. Ability— Develop and use our gifts and skills to build greatness according to the Lord’s design and purpose. This, in a sense, becomes the “easy” part, once the deep and firm foundation of character has been laid. Here, we turn right thinking and attitude into action, constructive habits, and ultimately living into His destiny for us.

One consideration to keep in mind here: True greatness often looks different from a heavenly, eternal, perspective than it does to the human-eye view. The world equates size, “noise”, and publicity with greatness—the bigger, louder, and more widely acclaimed the better. But, as we’ve seen, greatness begins with goodness, which redefines what it looks like. In heaven’s annals, greatness looks like deeds borne out of love, kindness, goodness, etc.—the Fruit(s) of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). Here, even that which seems small, quiet, and unnoticed, can be great when led and empowered by the Lord for His glory.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7. This enables us to become truly great, “neither useless nor unfruitful…” (v.8).

Wouldn’t you rather be truly great because you did things the right way, with the right motives, achieving eternally great results?