Am I More Than What I See?

Do people know who they are? Do they realize that they are more than their names, social security or driver's license numbers? Are they caught in a stream of things that seem urgent but never lead them beyond the next weekend, the next Christmas or the next vacation? Are they trying to identify themselves by the way they keep their yards, their houses, their cars or their workplaces? Should we be identified by what we are doing or what we were created to be?

Many people I speak to tell me that they have felt that they were created for something great. They don't know what it is nor do they really search for it. Their actions prove that they believe it will fall into their laps without any impetus on their part.

Thus, they continue to do the same things year after year and eventually retire from their jobs. At this point they work on doing nothing. They will die soon if nothing is worked at hard enough. The penultimate nothing on this earth is death.

I believe that greatness is at the heart and soul of every person. There is a plan that God has for that person. It is more than the person can imagine. Yet, people continue to go with the flow of this world. They are told that they are much less than what God sees. They act in mundane ways in comparison to the greatness God has planned for them. They may make lots of money, drive a fancy car, live in a big house and donate a zillion dollars to a hospital but never reach what God had planned for them.

Greatness will always elude those who do not know God's calling and plans. They may act in ways that seek fame, fortune and power or they may hide in the crowd but they do not seek what God has planned. It is so much easier to act so that people will admire you. It is so much easier to hide the fact that you don't know why you have been put on this earth.

Once we discover God's plan we will have greatness redefined. It will not be how rich, famous or powerful the person is. It will be what they are building in the Kingdom of God. It will be those things that will last for an eternity rather than those things which will last for a long time. It will be Who remembers what they have done, not how many remembered.

Many people ask how we could ever do greater things than Jesus. He walked on water fed 5000, raised the dead and came back to life Himself. Aren't those things beyond our own abilities? Not really. Here we must have a faith that goes beyond the world we live in. We will do what He did and more.

But also consider this: maybe these things aren't the greatness themselves. Maybe what made them great is the effect they had on others. Maybe our own greatness will impact the Kingdom of Heaven rather than circumstances on earth.

Yet, I see people settling for what this world will offer them. They think they are less than what they are because they are less than who they really are.

Are you more than what you see?

John 14:11-12 (ESV) ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. ¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.