“… do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not…”, says Jeremiah, in 45:5. We must not assume that we are all called to greatness. We are not all destined to reach the highest level of our profession or skill. We must go further and say that, in certain situations, we should not even seek greatness, let alone achieve it. But, this kind of talk goes against the grain of our success-obsessed society. It is assumed that, given the opportunity, success and the attainment of our goals is achievable through self-belief and hard work.
But, this clearly fails to take into account the sovereign providence of God, who has given all of us a gift, and also a measure of faith and grace according to which we practice our gift. Paul says that, since we have been given “gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them “in proportion to our faith” (Romans 12:6). This implies that the level of attainment in any activity is limited by God’s bestowal of gift, grace and faith. It also implies that, to use our gifts at a level beyond the measure of our faith and beyond the grace given to us, we will lose the effectiveness and power of the gift.
It would be tragic to spend a whole life striving to attain greatness in a certain sphere, only to realise at the end that we never actually possessed the faith and grace to achieve it. Far better to teach nursery children in God’s grace, than to spend a life struggling vainly to become a philosophy professor. Far better to serve at tables while being full of the Spirit and full of wisdom (Acts 6:1-3), than to grasp at a platform ministry for which we are ill-equipped.
My favourite definition of humility is: “to accept the truth about ourselves, our circumstances and our God”. It may be true that God has given me the grace to teach at seminary. But, it may become evident that I have been given the grace to teach only Sunday School. Even so, if I perform this function according to the measure of faith given to me, then I will receive the same reward as a seminary professor who performs his function according to his faith. We are not called to greatness (in this sense) primarily, but to faithfulness in whatever sphere God places us.
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