There is a treasure box in the secret place of my soul. Deep in my person, there is a place where the things I value most--the things that I order my entire life around--are carefully placed and lay waiting for me to visit them again. They are, more than anything else, truths I have agreed within the deepest levels of my being and desires that I hope in pursuing will ultimately lead me to greater fulfillment and joy. Within my box has long been the treasure of significance. It is what I have pursued above all else, and I'm just beginning to realize its hold on the ordering of so many of my actions. I am driven by a desire to be significant. It's a desire that plays out in my actions and in my valuing of self and others, often looking to what they or I do to define significance. With it, I've created a standard and a truth: that it is in the doing of truly great things that one finds the home of truly great people.
 
I'm discovering that this is a lie.
 
When I truly begin to take seriously the Kingdom of God and the teachings of Jesus, I am confronted with the truth that it is a lie to believe that I myself or others are in any way significant because of what we do. Great things are done by people who seem to be saints in our world as well as by people who seem to be from the lowest levels of hell. Great things are actions that, when separated from their moment and context, have very little to do with the greatness of a person. Very significant events in the scope of history have been accomplished by those who are later judged to be terrible people. What's more is that--in the context of eternity--there are very few truly great things. The prophet Isaiah reminds us that our life is but a vapor--that "All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isaiah 40:6b-8). It is important to consider significant in the context of eternity: when we do, we find that greatness based on what we can do seems almost impossible.
 
We often seek out great things when instead we should seek to manifest great love. Often our minds and hearts secretly revile the little things; but it is in the mundane, the normal, the chaotic tenor of daily life that the Kingdom really comes into focus. If our Kingdom living can reach the highest levels of cosmic vision and purpose but fail to attain even the most basic levels of justice and mercy and grace, we must ask the question if it really is the Kingdom that we are pursuing.
 
A good friend of mine shared a quote with me recently from Mother Theresa: Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. Great love is what has been shown to us at the ground level of the Kingdom of God: it is great love that is at every level thereafter and discovery of living in that Kingdom as it is at the very center of the heart of God. It is great love that makes the ordinary transcendent and life worth living.
 
You and I are promised great love by our King. But we have been lied to again and again when we are promised great things. Created in the image of God, you have incredible and immense worth in the Kingdom. Your story from the moment Jesus captures your heart is one filled with the promise of infinite value and significance, goodness and mercy that pursue you, purpose, and destiny. But never in any of that does that guarantee any moment or an ounce of significance or greatness in the eyes of this world. It is a completely separate standard, where the greatest in this world will be mixed with both the greatest and the least of the Kingdom: it's not an opposite standard, but a completely separate one--the two have nothing to do with each other. It's because of this that Jesus says to the disciples to "store up treasures in heaven"--not because there are no treasures in this world, but because they have no value in the next. "Keep your focus on the treasure that lasts"--not on the stuff that is perishing.
 
For many of us in artistry, our treasure is significance. We long for it. Many of those who have pursued careers in artistry--including myself--did not pursue this route as a pure passion for their art, but instead for something that was ultimately mixed with and routed in a longing for significance and value. Christianity in our time and in many circles has embraced this--perhaps in part because those teaching are in their own pursuit of significance--and have made a guarantee of the Kingdom to be a reward of significance in our here and now. We tell anyone who listens--"you are called to great things. There is a purpose for your life and because of this, you can expect a life that is filled with activities, tasks, adventures, and assignments that will be seen by all to be that which is truly great. Not only should you pray for these things, but you should expect and require these things of your God because it is His plan and His destiny for you." In the midst of it, I fear we may unintentionally build personality cults that value the members of our communities on a false standard of what we perceive to be significant. And if we do, it is most definitely a lie from the pit of hell.
 
The life of Jesus was by no means one of earthly significance in his time. Even after his disciples began to carry his message of good news through the known world, the life of Jesus in many ways remained most significant based upon the way that he loved people. The truth that he proclaimed was seen as even more significant because of how he loved. The greatest truth--that he would reconcile the world to God through himself--was made significant through his love displayed in his suffering and death. The man Jesus did great things--but most of all he showed great love. I believe it is the great love that actually made the way for the great things.
 
For many of us, our pursuit is of great things. We want to expel darkness, bring light in tangible ways in our world, see people healed through our art and transformed through something that we bring them. If you truly desire these things come to pass in our time, you and I must put to death the pursuit of significance. We must eradicate it from our value system. As someone likely living in the Western world, I can guarantee you that you will have tastes of earthly significance throughout your life--but this has nothing to do with God's promise to you and because of it, you need to take it out of your treasure box and let it sit in your front yard until one day it's gone. It has no value to you anymore.
 
In that place of honor and treasure in your heart of hearts now belongs great love. It is what the entirety of your life was meant to order around. And so let us be people who in all things pursue great love.