When someone is exceptional, we study his or her life for lessons we can learn. This behavior explains the plethora of biographies we read and movies we watch about athletes, politicians, leaders, and other great people who have endured hardship to leave their mark on history.
Who has inspired and informed your life? Other than Jesus Christ, if you had to name one person as the greatest person in the history of the world, who would it be?
Did you pick John the Baptizer? Honestly, if a poll were taken today it is doubtful he would even make the top 100. But, according to the angel Gabriel and Jesus Christ, he should be at the top of the list. Before John was born, Gabriel prophesied in Luke 1:15, “[John] will be great in the sight of the Lord.” Jesus later said in Luke 7:28, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one is greater than John.”
John did not have any of the things that we would consider the marks of a great person who lived a great life. John did not have a wife, children, wealth, the endorsement of any political or religious institution, or high social status. The one thing John did have – the key to his greatness – was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was God’s presence and power at work in and through the life of John. This was promised of him even from the womb of his mother Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel prophesied in Luke 1:15, “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.”
How can you live a great life? Like John, if you yield to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit and follow God’s unique will for your life, then you will be considered great in the sight of God.
Do you know what God’s will is for you in this season of life? How can you live by the power of the Holy Spirit in this season of life?