Daily Bible Challenge: February 19, 2019

This year, I am going to post creative challenges from God’s Word, the idea is simple, read the passage and create something based on it.

Matthew 23:11-12

A few words on greatness from God’s perspective. How can you use your gifts to be great in the Kingdom today?

What Is Great Work?

When it comes to the arts and creativity, we’ve all see some things that are great and some things that are… well… not great. What is great work, and how can we do great work every time?

Let’s start with the basics. “Great” is a subjective term. One person’s “great” is another person’s “garbage” and there is precious little we can do about that. I know I belabor this point on this blog, but if you strive to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one, least of all yourself. So it appears we will need to look for “great elsewhere.

Here’s what I suggest. Be your own critic. If you have created the best work you can do today, making the most of everything you can do today, that is the very greatest you can be today, and by the way that is good enough. If you bring your all to a project, you have done great work. Will everyone think it’s great? No, see the above paragraph, but if it is your best, put it out there for the world to see and learn from it. The people who love your work become your audience, your faithful fans and followers. You now have two people depending on you for greatness—first and foremost, yourself and secondly your “fans.” These are two of the best motivating forces for making you do better, and how do you become better? You bring your best to the work every day.

That’s called faithfulness, and by the way, it’s what God desires too. Don’t let the people who think your work is to great to discourage you. Give it your best, share your gift with the world and focus on pleasing yourself and the ones who think your work is pretty great. Get better for them and for the One who makes you great.

The Greatest…

This past Thursday, someone many consider to be the greatest of all time celebrated a birthday.  Neil Peart of Rush turned 61. Consult virtually any poll on the greatest rock drummers of all time and Peart is consistently at (or very near) the top and he has been for a very long time. He is truly amazing and definitely this writer’s top choice.

But let’s face it, being the greatest in any realm of the arts is subjective and Peart doesn’t stay at the top of his game by resting on his laurels. He is constantly playing, working in new genres and developing his playing. Even one considered by so many as the best there has ever been needs to keep practicing and even he has people he considers to be the greatest as witnessed here in this video where Neil plays a stripped down drum kit with the Buddy Rich orchestra at the Buddy Rich Memorial concert. 

Why do I share this? Because besides the fact that I believe that every drum set should be sold with a Rush DVD to show a young drummer what’s possible, being the greatest is difficult, maybe even impossible. Greatness, however, is within the reach of anyone willing to take his or her natural talents further through hard work and dedication. The greatest of all time in most any field is out of reach is out of reach for most people, but there is one area in which any of us can be the greatest. You are the only you there has ever been or ever will be, so be the greatest YOU you can be. Don’t get caught up in comparing yourself with others, but rather work toward greatness in your area of gifting and don’t stop.

What are you doing to develop your God-given gift?