Are you seeking great things for yourself?

(J.R. Miller)

"Are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them!" Jeremiah 45:5

This lesson is not an easy one to learn, for we all want to erect our work for God on the summit of a mountain, where it will be seen by all the world. We easily forget that sometimes the greatest work we can perform for Him, is to do the little things He gives us to do, quietly and sweetly.

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**Bonus quote! For pastors only (by J.C. Philpot)

"Are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them!" Jeremiah 45:5

Ministers often seek . . .
  great gifts,
  great eloquence,
  great congregations,
  great popularity and influence!

How many ministers are seeking after great gifts — thirsting after popularity, applause, and acceptance among men! They are not satisfied with being simply and solely what God may make them by His Spirit and grace — with the blessing which He may make them to a scattered few here and there. This inferior position, as they consider it, so beneath their grace and gifts, their talents and abilities — does not satisfy their restless mind and aspiring desires. Their ambition is . . .
  to stand at the very head of their peers,
  to be looked up to and sought after as a leader and a guide,
  to have a larger building,
  to have a fuller congregation,
  to have a better salary, and
  to have a wider field for the display of their gifts and abilities.
Gladly would they . . .
  stand above all others,
  brook no rival to their 'pulpit throne', and
  be lord paramount at church and abroad.

And what is the consequence of this proud, ambitious spirit? What envy, what jealousy, what detraction do we see in men who want to stand at the top of the mountain!

"If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all!" Mark 9:35

"So the last will be first; and the first will be last." Matthew 20:16