The Measure of a Great Man

“Here he is folks,” said the emcee, “a truly great man. A man who does not remind you of someone else.”

That was a clever introduction, but hardly a good measurement of greatness. CONSIDER the greatest man who ever lived and his introduction, “Here he is folks, a truly great man, a man who always reminds you of someone else!”

When they got around to writing His story, they found themselves writing about other people. They were reminded of the man healed of leprosy, a little girl raised from her deathbed, a large crowd miraculously fed, a man coming by night seeking the meaning of life. They were reminded of rich people, poor people, diseased people, young people, old people, people, people, people! In short, they were reminded of others.

They did not write about the color of His eyes or the length of His hair. They did not mention whether He liked mashed potatoes or country music. They wrote so little about His appearance and personal mannerisms that if we met Him on the street we would probably not even recognize Him. They tried, but every time they attempted to write about this great man, well, they could not think of Him without thinking of others.

We look into His eyes and we see the eyes of a hungry child. We hold His hand and we hold the hand of someone ill. We walk with Him and we find ourselves walking with a troubled teenager. We think of this great man and we are constantly reminded of others.

May our success be so measured.

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