True Greatness

NAU 1 Thessalonians 4:11 make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands.

Ambition is defined as: "An eager or strong desire to achieve something, such as fame or power." Fame and power are great examples of ambition's focus. I remember most of my friends in high school having ambitions for high paying jobs, fast cars, and influential positions in government. Few had the ambition to lead a quiet life. And when I'm honest with myself, I can't say my ambition was to lead a quiet life either. I wanted to be the next Dwight Nelson, Bill Hybels, or John Maxwell. I still have ambitions of making a big splash in the church. Of being an impressive preacher, etc.

God's word says: Make a quiet life Your ambition. Attending to your business faithfully, however small or great it may be, and working with our hands.

As I grow in my relationship with Jesus, I'm realizing more and more the power of a quiet life. I even think he is making it a strong desire with in me. I am seeing the truthfulness of Isaiah's message more and more:

NAU Isaiah 30:15 For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength."

I find myself asking: "What areas of my life is Jesus seeking to still? What are the waves and winds which toss my heart too and fro with worry and care? "

Finances. Family. Career. Personal Success. These are a few. I think my ambition for greatness can be like a tidal wave about to drown the landscape of my self-esteem. I am overwhelmed by a wish. Incapacitated by desire. Beat down by the longing to be different; the need to be important.

And my Father is saying to me, “My precious son, embrace the quiet. Find security in silence. Let rest in me be Your greatest desire. True greatness is found in a gentle and quiet heart filled with the presence of the Prince of Peace. True greatness comes with the knowledge of whose you are! True greatness frees you to serve without the expectation of thanks or recognition. True greatness is greatly quiet about is accomplishments. True greatness gives all the glory back to God. True greatness begins in repentance and rest, in quietness and trust."

Prayer: Lord quiet my heart. Let me rest in the wonder of You. Fill me with the peace which surpasses all understanding. Let Your glory be my passion, and Your honor be my glory. Cause me to think of You first in any and all circumstances. You alone are worthy my ambition.

One Pure and Holy Passion
Mark Altrogge

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You.

Mother of All the Living

NAU Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.“ 20 Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Between the curses of God and His covering for shame comes a name. One might express it this way: Cursed, Named, Covered. And the name we bear isn't about the curse, but the covering. Eve: mother of all the living. Why wasn't she given the name of the Hindu goddess Tara, mother of the dead? Because, God came calling with His covenant:

NAU Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.“ 16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."

When Adam heard the God's covenant, he knew his wife's name. It was to be Eve, the mother of all the living. Why, because her seed would crush the serpant's head.

What an honor, though she would die because of her sin, she would become a part of salvation because of God's promise: She would be Eve, mother of all the living.

Application: How has God's calling and covenant determined my name? Who am I spiritually? People call me Jim Moon. But who will they remember me as? A peacekeeper? A life-giver? A joy bringer?

Prayer: Lord I pray that Your call and covenant of grace would make a name for me. I'm tired of trying to make a name for myself. Tired of prending to be shameless, when inside I feel stripped bear with the shame of my sin. Tired of living for the praise of others. Tired of indulging myself.

I don't need any of this. I need your annointing. A new name and a new robe. A new life and a new hope. Power within to face the trials without. I receive Your name. I accept Your robe. Covered, Clean, and New. I will bear the name of You!