In our daily lives, we all seek to become the greatest at everything we do. If that is true, we should seek to become the greatest follower of Christ. But what it takes to be great in God’s eyes is not seen as great in today’s world. Christ redefined the meaning of greatness, and if we are to truly follow him then we must seek to live out his life and words. There is no perfect formula on how to become a better Christian, but if we look intently at Christ’s greatest words he reveals how we can become great in his eyes.

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will go to the Northway Baptist Church Children's Building

A. The Desire As individuals in this society we are taught that we need to be the greatest in everything we do. We are socialized to try to become the greatest person, the greatest athlete, the greatest employee, the greatest student, the greatest parents, the greatest child, or the greatest whatever. We all desire to be the greatest at something. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers work their butt off to be the greatest Quarterbacks in the NFL. Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and Dirk Notwitski strive to do the same in the NBA. If you own a business or corporation you want it to be the greatest business around. Most of you strive to be the greatest employee so that you might be promoted or given recognition. Maybe you seek to be the best Call of Duty player on Xbox 360, the best mud racer, the best coupon saver, the best fencing fighter, the best crochet blanket maker, the greatest comedian, the greatest couch potato, etc. Here is a list of what is considered the greatest in today’s world. Muhammad Ali referred to himself as the greatest. Michael Jordan is considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time. Jack Nicholas (Tiger Woods maybe one day) is considered to be the greatest golfer of all time. Hank Aaron is known as the greatest homerun hitter of all time. Roger Federer is known as the greatest tennis player of all time. Bill Gates is known as the greatest business man of all time. Albert Einstein is known as having one of the greatest human minds of all time. United States of America is known as the greatest country. The Roman Empire was known as the greatest empire. Every person, business, religion, or country strives to be the greatest whether they will admit it or not. Growing up as a twin, my brother Jacob and I competed on everything. He won some and I won some, but we wanted to be the greatest at everything. When we were kids we used to keep track of how many soccer goals we scored. I remember us arguing about the final total of goals one time. I won by 3 goals, but he believed two of my soccer goals didn’t count because they were in an exhibition game. That competition drove us to be successful students & athletes. We made each other better in every sport we competed in because we each wanted to be better and that also included our academics. He ended up being the valedictorian in our high school, I guess he won that one, but I’ll take the credit for pushing him to be the best…lol…just kidding. There are a lot of factors and variables that pushed Jacob to want to be the greatest student at our high school. Maybe it was to make our parents and siblings proud, to beat me, to be recognized by his peers, to receive scholarships, to be accepted by a great college institution, to glorify God etc. But the most important factor I believe that made him want to be great was that he did not want to be average, he wanted to be something greater. He wasn’t satisfied where he was, he was motivated on who he could be. The point is that we all strive to be something great and this is no different with Jesus’ disciples.

MARK MOORE is currently a full-time student pastor at Northway Baptist Church in Angleton, Texas. Mark graduated from Baylor University in 2007 and is finishing his Masters of Divinity at George W. Truett Seminary. He married his high school sweetheart, Lauren, in 2008. He and his wife have one son named Peyton and one daughter named Annabelle.

Mark brings a unique perspective because he is able to dive deep into Scripture while bringing simplicity as well. He is able draw the reader in with his analogies, anecdotes, and illustrations. He is able to form a dialogue with the reader throughout his book. This book is heavily embedded with Scripture throughout, and he puts a great emphasis on looking at the context of each verse and passage. He also provides discussion questions at the end of the each chapter for the reader to contemplate individually or with a small group. This book can be utilized for leisure reading, spiritual growth, and small groups.