Greatness Granted

by Jordan Raynor

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. —Genesis 12:2

In Genesis 11, we see the people of Babel working hard to build a tower that would prove they were the greatest. “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky,” they said. “This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world” (verse 4, NLT).

The Babylonians were working for their own glory, and that does not work for God. As he said in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another.” So God brought the building of the tower to a halt and did the exact thing the Babylonians feared—he scattered them all over the world.

In the very next chapter—Genesis 12—the topic of greatness takes center stage again. But this time, greatness wasn’t being grasped at by humans; it was being granted by God. In today’s verse, God told Abraham that he would “make [him] into a great nation” and “make [his] name great.” And of course, Abraham’s name is one of the greatest of all time, while nobody can remember the name of a single builder of that infamous tower.

I think it’s natural to want to live lives of greatness and to hope that our work will be remembered long after we’re gone. But today’s verse shows us that true greatness isn’t taken; it’s granted by God. Thus, we can trust that God will produce whatever results he deems for our good and his glory. Rest in that truth today!

Listen to our interview with Jordan Raynor on SBE here!

Excerpted from The Word Before Work. Copyright © 2022 by Jordan Raynor. Used by permission of WaterBrook, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Bestselling author Jordan Raynor helps Christians respond to the radical, biblical truth that their work matters for eternity. He does this through his books including The Word Before Work: The Word Before Work: A Monday-Through-Friday Devotional to Help You Find Eternal Purpose in Your Daily Work, The Creator in You children’s book, Redeeming Your Time), podcast (Mere Christians), and weekly devotional (“The Word Before Work”)—content that has served millions of Christ-followers in every country on earth. Jordan also serves as the executive chairman of Threshold 360, a venture-backed tech startup which he previously ran as CEO following a string of successful ventures of his own. He lives near Tampa, Florida with his wife and their three young daughters. For more information, visit https://www.jordanraynor.com & instagram.com/jordanraynor