It’s not what you take but what you leave behind that defines greatness.
Edward Gardner
What if you opened the newspaper tomorrow morning and saw your own obituary? Would it make you reevaluate your life? Cause you to reconsider how you spend your hours? That is exactly what happened to Swedish inventor and chemist Alfred Nobel. Alfred was the man responsible for inventing dynamite. Even though dynamite is now synonymous with destruction, Alfred’s original intent for the invention was that it would save lives. He wanted to create something so powerful that people would recoil from the thought of going to war with each other, thereby creating more peace.
Things in Alfred’s life were moving along fine when, one morning in 1888, he opened the newspaper and saw his own obituary. As it turned out, Alfred’s brother had died, but the local press had accidentally created and run an obituary for Alfred instead. That mistake changed Alfred’s legacy. When he saw that the writer of the obituary had summed up his life and his work by giving him the moniker “Merchant of Death,” Alfred came face-to-face with the reality of how his days on earth had been spent.
Upset that he could be remembered so negatively, he decided to refocus his remaining time on his original goal—doing something that would help the world around him. With that decision, Alfred drafted a will directing over 90 percent of his net worth to the establishment of Nobel prizes—prizes to be given to, in his words, “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.”[1] Shortly after his actual death, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.
How will people remember you? Are you having the kind of impact on the world that you want to have? Have you found the purpose and meaning that your heart longs for? Are you achieving true greatness, or are you, like so many others, attaining small successes while simultaneously realizing that they lack real significance? Consider the words of author Stephen Covey:
People often find themselves achieving victories that are empty, successes that have come at the expense of things they suddenly realize were far more valuable to them. People from every walk of life . . . often struggle to achieve a higher income, more recognition or a certain degree of professional competence, only to find that their drive to achieve their goal blinded them to the things that really mattered most and are now gone. How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to do what really matters most.[2]
Covey contends, as do I, that the way to manage our lives so that we are focused on what really matters most is to embrace the idea of principle-centered living. Internalizing and living by correct guiding principles is the only thing that produces long-term happiness and success.
The people in our lives and in our world who find purpose and achieve meaningful goals are those who live by a strong life-directing principle. Just think back over some of the greatest, most respected individuals of our time and you will see that they all lived by a guiding principle. Here are just a few to consider—most you will recognize, though one you may not:
Here’s the thing about guiding principles: whether we realize it or not, we are all living by one. We either make an intentional choice to center our life on a principle, or we end up living one by default. If we don’t determine and embrace a correct principle for ourselves, we will fall into the principle pattern set for us by our closest friends and family—which could easily lead to skewed priorities and unfulfilling years.
The content and strength of your dominant guiding principle will directly correlate with the greatness of your life. With that in mind, take a moment to examine your own heart. What is your current guiding principle? Can you even recognize it? Is it leading you toward success and significance? Is it leading you toward true greatness?
Defining Greatness
You and I receive a lot of mixed messages about what defines a great life. Some people tell us that financial success is the ultimate goal. Others say that fame, and the sense of immortality that comes with it, is true greatness. Still others would say that power is the pinnacle.
In your day-to-day world, you may have your own qualifiers that mark the path toward greatness. You may think that if you do your job well and raise a happy family, then you are achieving greatness. Perhaps you think that to be great, you need to keep yourself in top physical shape, master a hobby, or always be the life of the party. By the world’s standards, greatness can be elusive territory, meaning different things to different people. Ultimately, deep down, we all know that we are searching for the kind of greatness that is inherent in purpose, meaning, and significance, but most of us spend our days treading up a marshy path, not sure if it will ever actually get us to that summit.
In Scripture, on the other hand, we see that God’s definition of greatness isn’t mysterious or murky at all. When the disciples were having their little spat about which one of them was the greatest, they were looking at greatness through the world’s lens (Mark 9:33–37). Jesus wasted no time in letting them know that they were chasing after the wrong goal. What he taught them that day, and on many other occasions, was a principle—a principle worth building our lives on.
The Greatness Principle
While Thoreau, Mother Teresa, and the like understood principled living, the concept didn’t start with them. Long before them, Jesus lived his life by the ultimate guiding principle—a principle that has the potential to make us great not only in the world’s eyes but also, and more important, in God’s eyes. I like to call Jesus’s guiding principle “The Greatness Principle.”
Scripture never uses the phrase “The Greatness Principle,” but Jesus taught on the substance of this principle at least a dozen times. It’s also mentioned in Proverbs and discussed by the apostle Paul in Acts and Philippians. Before I give you the actual principle, let’s take a look at some of its substantiating teaching, starting with that infamous debate among the disciples:
After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” (Mark 9:33–35)
Jesus refers to the principle again in Matthew’s account of his conversation with some hypocritical religious leaders: “The greatest among you must be a servant” (Matt. 23:11). In Matthew 20:28, Jesus uses himself as an example to prove his point: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Are you catching on to the theme?
Before Jesus’s ministry even began, King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, shined a spotlight on the truth of The Greatness Principle with “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” (Prov. 11:25). In other words, God will refresh those who bless (read: serve) others.
Later, after Jesus’s death and resurrection, Paul underscored the substance of The Greatness Principle in his letter to the Philippian church when he wrote, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Phil. 2:4–5). What kind of attitude did Jesus have? He had the attitude of a servant, as we see proven through his own ministry and teaching. Jesus served others in love. Paul goes on to write:
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. (Phil. 2:6–7)
Even though he was the very essence of God, Jesus continually humbled himself and lifted others up. As a result, God blessed him abundantly.
The Greatness Principle is a dominant principle throughout the New Testament. It was the guiding principle in Jesus’s life, and it’s the primary qualifier of greatness in God’s eyes. Those facts alone are reason enough for you and me to make it the standard on which we base our lives. Okay, I’ve made you wait long enough. Are you ready for the actual principle? Here it is:
The Greatness Principle: When you bless others, God blesses you.
God wants to bless you. He wants you to live the best life possible. He wants you to understand and achieve true greatness. He sent his Son into this world so that you and I could be reconciled to him and enjoy a full, rich life. As Jesus himself said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 NASB). But in order to take part in the abundant life Jesus offers, we have to accept his love and embrace his principle of greatness.
A Great Life
To miss The Greatness Principle would mean to miss out on so much of what God has in store for you. It would mean living a life that is less than God’s best—a life filled with struggle, a life where you feel distant from God and stagnant in your growth. I know that’s not the kind of life you want.
You probably won’t get to see it like Alfred Nobel did, but one day your obituary will run in the local newspaper. What will it say? Will it say that you lived a truly great life? That you made the most of the opportunities you were given on this earth and created a legacy that will last? Or will it say that you just got by, doing the best you could? You don’t have to settle for mediocrity and nagging discontent. You can be great. You can be abundantly blessed by God. Significance is right in front of you. Do you want it? The decision is yours.
Are you currently living by a guiding principle? If so, what is that principle?
Think about the end of your life: What do you want your friends and family to be able to say about you at your funeral? How do you want your obituary to read? Consider writing out some qualities and accomplishments you’d like to be remembered for.