So Much For Greatness

It began with the greatest season, by the greatest team, using the greatest offense and propelled by what some feel to be the greatest quarterback and coach of all time.

And now there is talk of the greatest catch in the greatest Super Bowl thrown by a quarterback from the greatest family in NFL history. Even the size of the audience was the greatest to ever watch a sporting event in America. Then there also arguably the greatest Super Bowl loss and upset ever seen.

But on a single Sunday night in Arizona several aspects of certain football immortality came to a screeching halt. The unlikely victory by New York's Giants over the mighty New England Patriots, not only prevented seasonal perfection, but likely stifled the expected title of the greatest team in NFL history. They will now be known as very good, one of the best, a dynasty, but not necessarily the greatest to ever grace the gridiron.

Greatness is a term that is sometimes used a little too loosely. True greatness should be applied only when no other descriptive term can be applied. And greatness is often used to label people or events that are far from legendary in their true impact or overall importance.

In any discussion on ultimate greatness, the Creator of the universe must be present as His greatness is fully unique and unquestioned. In His Word He uses the term 'great' to describe Himself and what He has done for a lost and needy humanity. The kid's dinner table prayer said it well. "God is good. God is great".

Ephesians 2 reveals the magnitude of His infinite love for those without hope apart from His great grace in Christ. Verse 4 begins, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

Then Peter 1:2-4 reveals what is in store for those who have become new creations in Christ. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

Much more could be said on the subject God's unparalleled greatness. But to narrow it down to the core essentials, God's great love has fully overcome man's great sin. Further, He has given to His followers a great enabling power allowing them to live a victorious and godly life.

And finally, God has been careful to offer great warnings like the one in Hebrews 2. There He presents the ultimate question to life's greatest single decision - to accept or reject the sacrifice of His Son. Verse 3 is clear, concise, and clearly convicting. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation."

Hopefully all who hear the good news of Jesus Christ will trust Him as savior when they come to grasp His great sacrifice as revealed in John 15:13. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

Bill Breckenridge