The Pursuit of Greatness
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
- G. K. Chesterton
Picture a young man who can recite what the laws of his land are. Many remark that he is well-versed in facts, and they are correct. He can tell you exactly what his duties are to God and to his fellow man. He can lay out a strategy for any number of things, and he can meticulously with pinpoint precision lay out how such a plan could be executed successfully at the right time. He can regurgitate out right answers like a machine.
Yet, in terms of actions, this man has nothing to show. He is, to describe him in one word, apathetic.
Of how many men today does this description aptly fit?
What is most troubling about this epidemic of apathy is that it has seemingly caught hold of especially the younger men. Typically, we think of the younger men as those full of zeal and ambition, yet it is the younger generations today that are characterized by laziness, apathy, and entitlement.
What is the solution? Shall we then pump them up with more knowledge? I suspect that is not the antidote, for we can all think of plenty of men who nicely fit the phrase "ivory tower." What those men lack is not knowledge.
Part of the answer lies in the necessity of stories. It is in stories that we find examples to emulate, pictures of what we too could achieve and become. Biographies of our great heroes of old are a great place to start. What man, when reading about John Calvin, does not stop to ponder what works he himself has accomplished in his life? Fictional stories as well are as legitimate as non-fictional ones for our purposes. For who among us can hear about the great feats of Aragorn and not be inspired to greatness?
It is safe to say that the desire to hear about greatness and emulate it is not gained but rather is ingrained in the soul of a man ever since birth. Many a mother can surely corroborate observing her little son in the field, waving around a stick he found on the ground, shouting, "Look, Mommy, I'm Saint George slaying the dragon!" So genuine was the look on his face that she almost believed him.
The other part of the answer is that we must do away with the sinister lie that pursuing greatness is arrogance. Too often this is equated with pride, for the truly humble man would not think so highly of himself. But the pursuit of excellence and greatness is not arrogance, nor is it vainglory. It is the proper and fitting use of the gifts and talents that have been bestowed upon you by your Maker. What a shame it would be if you would not attempt great things for God's glory using the gifts he has given you, and instead sulk around under the guise that what God would have you do with what he has given you is absolutely nothing. What father gives his son a tool and wills that he never use it?
Consider the following as a sort of litmus test; this is the sixty-third resolution of Jonathan Edwards:
- On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. Jan. 14 and July 3, 1723.
Edwards is essentially resolving to be the best Christian on the face of the planet. The litmus test is whether or not this strikes you as arrogance. I must admit, when I first encountered this several years ago, it struck me as the zenith of arrogance. Yet, as I heard it put once... what is the alternative? To be the worst Christian on the planet? To be the most mediocre and lukewarm? No, the only sensible conclusion is that every man ought to emulate Edwards in this, to resolve to be the greatest and most excellent Christian man in the world.
In a sermon preached at Princeton called, "Christian Magnanimity," John Witherspoon stated the following:
"... every good man is called to live and act for the glory of God and good of others. Here he has as extensive a scene of activity as he can possibly desire. He is not indeed permitted to glory nor to build an altar to his own vanity, but he is both permitted and obliged to exert his talents, to improve his time, to employ his substance and to hazard his life in his Maker’s service or his country’s cause."
That is the type of exhortation every man needs to hear, starting from a young age. Give your sons knowledge and answers, but give them more than that. Give them inspiration and fire. Feed them with stories of great men accomplishing great things, and hinder them not in their aspiration to imitate them. Magnanimity is the forgotten virtue of our day; let us recover it. May God raise up armies of men with great zeal and passion for greatness and excellence, all to the glory of His great name.
"Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord."
Romans 12:11 (ESV)