The Seven Longings of the Human Heart - Week #6

Chapter Four – The Longing for Greatness

This is a wonderful chapter on the innate desire that we all have to be great and how we try to deny this longing through artificial suppression of it. I believe this is especially true of us as believers; because we know that it’s not right to scratch and claw our way to the top, we deny the reality that we really do desire to be great. For some of us, we’ve denied this for so long that we aren’t in touch with the desire any more. Perhaps because early in life we experienced being put down or being disappointed in not seeing our youthful ambitions for greatness come to pass, we find it easier to settle for an unbiblical view of greatness and say that true spirituality means we shouldn’t want to be great.

I love the premise of this chapter! Mike Bickle shows from Scripture that we humans are created by God to desire and long for greatness. Our error is to think that we will realize this greatness in this very short life on fallen earth. This life on earth is our brief internship that prepares us for eternal greatness in God and in His Kingdom (II Cor. 4:16-18). How we live this life in Him will determine our position in eternity.

Over recent years as this reality has gripped me, it has liberated me in two ways:
1. First of all, it has freed me to enjoy the desire to be great and not be ashamed of that; in other words, I’m free to not expend emotional energy on trying to stuff something that is a legitimate desire in every human being.
2. Second, it has freed me from having to realize this greatness in this life. My heart goes out to those who don’t know Jesus and work so hard to extend their life now because they believe it’s the only chance to be fulfilled; or there are those of us who follow Jesus but don’t realize that when Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom on earth, we will begin to walk in our greatness, so we don’t have to be known and recognized now.

With this as the essence of this chapter, I’m going to list several quotes for you from it:

* Striving for greatness has driven a lot of people to do ungodly things as they try to fulfill their desire at any cost. As a result, adult etiquette seems to shun any desire for greatness, to stuff it down somewhere in our psyche and feign humility, all the while smoldering on the inside because someone else gets recognized and we get ignored.
* You desire to be great precisely because you were meant to be great…We are not to repent of this God-given longing…We are only to repent of pursuing it with a wrong spirit…Get rid of your false humility, but remember that the only way into greatness is through the cross of Jesus and by walking in meekness (Matt. 20:26,27).
* To the Laodicean Church, Jesus gave a staggering promise of greatness…”To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne”…Nobody sits in God’s presence. Every creature described is pictured as standing in respect or prostrate in holy adoration when appearing before God. Yet in this passage we read of saints sitting in God’s presence…Do we have any idea of who we are (to God)?...The revelation of the redeemed as enthroned with Jesus answers our cry to be successful.
* The longing to be great, to be noble and to be successful is answered by God when He enthrones us as His bridal partner in eternity…we will be co-heirs with Jesus. This is an expression of how He feels about us. (Matt. 5:12, 19; Rom. 8:17; Rev. 5:10)
* Every social order has a ruling class…One usually has to be born into it. The other way to become part of the ruling class is to marry into the aristocracy. As a believer, you have married into money and power in a big way, an extreme way…This is not to say that the redeemed will be equal to God. That is a lie Satan has successfully used in many false religions. But you will reign on the earth as a king and priest.
* As kings, the saints will reign with judicial responsibility and authority on the Earth in the age to come…There sure seems to be a lot of work to do before we’re ready to step into that role. Fortunately, Jesus always makes a way. He never appoints us to anything without providing a process of preparation…The primary preparation to greatness is entirely different from what we would do by nature (Matt. 20:26,27; Matt. 18:4).
* The measure to which we develop in love, meekness and revelation during our lives now determines our position and functions in His government (Matt. 7:14; 19:30; 20:16, 26,27; 22:14; Luke 13:24). Our ministries in the age to come have nothing to do with how much we accomplished outwardly in this age, but rather how much we develop inwardly.

In the last part of this chapter Bickle suggests that there are a couple of fundamental elements needed in our present walk with God in order for success in our next assignment after this short 70-year internship:
* Meekness (Matt. 5:5)
* Faithfulness in the little things (Lk. 18:17)
* Resisting the temptation to promote oneself (whether in blatant or subtle ways) – leave all promotion in the hands of God

Living and walking in these virtues comes easier when we have revelation of the truth of who we are to Jesus; we are His inheritance (Eph.1:17,18). As this truth sinks more deeply into our heart understanding, we find we’re wholly satisfied to let the Lord place us in high or low places in this age, knowing that in the age to come, we will rule and reign with Him from a position of greatness!

Holy Spirit, reveal Your awesome plan for the Bride of Christ in the age to come so that our hearts in this age are at peace and empowered to embrace meekness and faithfulness and hiddenness for the sake of taking our place with You to rule in the age to come. Thank You for doing this for us! In Jesus’ name…

Next week we’ll cover chapter five: The Longing for Intimacy without Shame. May the grace and light of the Lord’s countenance be on you this week!