great shakes
"What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?" —Deuteronomy 4:8
"God is Love" (1 Jn 4:16). Accordingly, He wants to give people the best, the greatest. Therefore, He raises up great people to do great things. God calls us to greatness because He is Love.
We will be great and our nation will be great if we:
- observe God's law carefully (Dt 4:6-8; Mt 5:19),
- teach God's commands (Mt 5:19), and
- serve people (Mt 20:26).
This obeying, teaching, and serving is so demanding that, like Jesus, we give our lives for others (Mt 20:28). Greatness means not self-realization but self-dying. Greatness is not being like Pontius Pilate, Herod, the Pharisees, or Jesus' executioners but being like Jesus on the cross. The road to greatness is the way of the cross.
Do you want to be great by Jesus' standards? Even if you don't, will you be great anyway for love of God and His people? Choose greatness. Choose obedience, teaching, serving, dying, and loving. Be great for Love (1 Jn 4:16).
Prayer: Father, may I please You by aspiring to greatness by serving others (see Mt 20:26).
Promise: "He sends forth His command to the earth; swiftly runs His word! He spreads snow like wool; frost He strews like ashes." —Ps 147:15-16
Praise: Little Eileen looked forward to her First Communion more than to her birthday.
Reference: (We have several tape series to help you read the Bible. Overview of the Bible is six audio tapes starting with AV 10A-1 or three video tapes starting with V-10A. 15-minute Bible Teaching - New Testament is forty audio tapes starting with #700. An Introduction to each book of the Bible is thirty-two audio tapes starting with AV 21-1 or seventeen video tapes starting with V-21.)
Rescript: †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 25, 2014
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