We all want to be something great!

And we all want to be known for doing something great. Whether that is excelling in business, raising a family, being a politician, having a ministry – whatever we do, we want ourselves and everybody else around us to know that we were the best in our areas of expertise.

And this is not to say that some of the desires that we have are not of God. God gives us great visions for these ministries, for these businesses, for running our homes and so much more. But the question – and we must ask this question – is it for His glory or is it for our own? Why are we seeking the thing that He has put before us – is it so that we can be great or so that He can be glorified?

I believe that God tested Abraham with this very question in Genesis 22. So that you know, Abraham already had a track record of doing things for his own accolades i.e. Ishmael! Even though God had promised that He would give Abraham and his wife Sarah a son in their own age, they grew impatient and took matters into their own hands, so that even if God did not give them the son that he promised, they at least, would not be ridiculed for never raising up seed to carry on the family name and legacy.

That aside, God had to test Abraham’s loyalties. Was Abraham so interested in his own glory, and his own fame that Isaac brought, or was he more interested in glorying the name of the living God. Thankfully, Abraham passed the test and today, we are still seeing the fruits of that through the nation and people of Israel! Through one man’s family, one man’s son, God raised up a nation that in His own words are more numerous than the stars in the sky (Genesis 15). But this blessing only came because Abraham put aside his own need to be great and decided that it was more important for the God in His life to be glorified.

The one thing about seeking our own glory, is that our vision is often too small. We think that it would be amazing to build a church that brings in 10,000 people on a weekly basis, God is thinking about building a kingdom that will change the whole world. We think that it is awesome to earn millions of dollars, God’s thinking billions of dollars not for us to spend it upon ourselves but to put it to use to change the eternal lives of many. You see, when we are focused on ourselves and all that we can do, we can’t see any bigger than this image. But when our focus shifts to the glory of God, not only does our vision expand but we get to be a part of something greater than ourselves.

If you want to be great, if I want to be great, we would do well to lay down all of the Isaac’s in our lives, put them in God’s hands, and allow Him to use them as He may. What’s one thing you can do today, right now, to realign this focus in your life?