By Debbie Boyce

I opened my computer recently to discover a beautiful photograph on my startup screen, courtesy of  Microsoft. The spectacular landscape drew me in. I wanted to know where the photo was taken.  It was an aerial view of farmland, with a hot air balloon floating over the intricate patterns of the fields.  The caption that Microsoft added was “Do great things.”  Doing great things apparently entails having  extraordinary experiences or adventures like riding in a hot air balloon.

What about the rest of us? How do we define greatness?

We can live out our ordinary lives doing great things.  Jesus says that anyone who aspires to be great must become the servant of all.  

I was immediately jarred by the contrast between how Microsoft conceptualizes greatness and how Jesus conceptualizes greatness.  

I live in Princeton, NJ, work with Princeton University students and listen to their dreams of greatness constantly.  They have visions of doing great work for God in academia, in medicine, and in business.  While they don’t often speak of thrill-ride adventures like floating in a hot air balloon, neither do they speak with eagerness or clarity of becoming the servants of all.  

And they rarely think of following Christ’s example of service through death.  

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  (Mark 10:45)

The greatest thing that was ever done was accomplished through grueling service and in ignominious death.  Life came from that death.  We can serve and die daily to ourselves in academia, medicine, business, parenting, marriage, singleness – in  whatever we do.  

If we follow Jesus, we, too, can serve and give life to others.

Who defines great things for us? My prayer is that we are led in our quest for doing great things by Jesus rather than the world.