“Alleged ‘impossibilities’ are opportunities for our capacities to be stretched.” – Chuck Swindoll1
“Since new developments are the products of a creative mind, we must therefore stimulate and encourage that type of mind in every way possible.” – George Washington Carver
“The ambitious climbs up high and perilous stairs, and never cares how to come down; the desire of rising hath swallowed up his fear of a fall.” – Thomas Adams
“What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.” – Augustine
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” – Helen Keller
“What you can’t go through, God will help you fly over.” – Woodrow Kroll
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” – Chuck Swindoll
“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” – Augustine
“It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity.” – George Macdonald
“Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” – A. W. Tozer
“They always win who side with God.” – Frederick W. Faber
“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” – Ronald Reagan
“There is literally nothing that I ever asked to do, that I asked the blessed Creator to help me to do, that I have not been able to accomplish.” – George Washington Carver
“The real democratic American idea is, not that every man shall be on a level with every other man, but that every man shall have liberty to be what God made him, without hindrance.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“Fear God and work hard.” – David Livingstone
“I long to put the experience of fifty years at once into your young lives, to give you at once the key to that treasure chamber every gem of which has cost me tears and struggles and prayers, but you must work for these inward treasures yourselves.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” – J. I. Packer
“God does not choose those who are fit. He outfits those whom He chooses.” – Jack Hyles
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation – veneer isn’t worth anything.” – George Washington Carver
1 All of these quotes are from the websites below:
Greatness or Obedience? The Christian Answer Is Order, Not Vanity.
Mr. Blattman’s posted collection has real value because it does not treat achievement as mere swagger or self-branding. It frames effort, endurance, preparation, humility, and God-dependence as the actual bones under meaningful accomplishment.
It is useful that the quotes keep dragging ambition back under discipline. Helen Keller’s emphasis on treating small tasks as noble, Augustine’s pairing of prayer with labor, Macdonald’s insistence on quality over exhausted leftovers, and Reagan’s reminder not to clutch credit all press toward the same truth: Christian work is not performance theater for insecure egos. It is stewardship.
So, the answer to the question is this: we are not here to chase greatness as the idol, but to obey God so fully that whatever greatness He permits becomes the byproduct of faithfulness rather than the perfume of pride.
Humanity keeps trying to reverse that order, because of course it does. We would rather be impressive than holy.
1. Obedience is the Christian’s first calling, not applause.
Scripture is brutally clear on this point. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). That means God is not dazzled by scale, visibility, or the fact that a man built a tower large enough for other men to post inspirational nonsense about it.
If the heart is crooked, the accomplishment is varnished rebellion.
That is why the Christian cannot make “great things” the target in the raw. Greatness, detached from obedience, quickly becomes Babel with a mission statement. The world calls that legacy. Heaven often calls it noise.
Curt’s source material helps here because its best quotations honor discipline more than glamour. Keller makes greatness small before she makes it grand. Livingstone says, “Fear God and work hard.” Augustine joins prayer and labor. Carver rejects shortcuts and cheap veneer. That entire set leans toward a truth modern Christians often forget: God is not usually looking for theatrical importance. He is looking for surrendered will, clean hands, and steady feet.
2. Greatness is not wrong, but it must be redefined by the kingdom.
The Bible does not condemn greatness itself. It condemns the carnal definition of it. Jesus did not say, “Do not become great.” He said, “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 20:26). There it is, plain as a pimple.
Greatness in the kingdom is not domination. It is consecrated usefulness.
So yes, in a biblical sense, both obedience and greatness belong together, but only when greatness is understood as mature faithfulness under God.
Joseph rose high, but only after obedience in obscurity. Daniel became great in Babylon, but only because he would not bow. Esther acted greatly because she first accepted costly duty.
Paul changed the world because he first became a slave of Christ.
The Christian is therefore free to do excellent work, lead boldly, build wisely, and aim high. Tozer’s refusal of mediocrity, Packer’s definition of wisdom as pursuing the highest goal by the surest means, and King’s insistence on painstaking excellence all fit when they are tethered to God’s ends rather than personal inflation.
The issue is not whether we should aspire. The issue is what sits on the throne while we aspire.
3. The road to anything holy is ordinary faithfulness done without stealing God’s glory.
Luke 16:10 says the one faithful in little is faithful also in much. That verse wrecks the fantasy that a man can neglect the plain duties of today and somehow emerge tomorrow as a giant of righteousness. He will not. He will emerge as a larger fool with a shinier biography.
Curt’s collected quotes twang this nerve repeatedly. Macdonald says God wants our best work, not the leftovers of our exhaustion. Reagan notes how much good can be done when credit is no longer the obsession. Hyles says God outfits those He chooses. Stowe emphasizes tears, struggles, prayers, and inward treasure. Even Swindoll’s language about impossible situations stretching our capacities pushes the soul toward dependence rather than bravado.
That is the Christian pattern. Obedience in the unseen place. Excellence without vanity. Labor without self-worship. Courage without chest-thumping. Colossians 3:23 tells us to work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. There is the whole engine in one line. We obey because He is Lord. We labor well because He is worthy. We accept influence, scale, fruit, or obscurity as He assigns them.
And when the Lord grants visible impact, the faithful Christian does not strut across the stage as though heaven were lucky to have hired him.
Conclusion
So, are we here to achieve greatness or obedience, or both?
The clean answer is: obedience first, greatness second, and only then if greatness is defined as faithfulness under God’s hand. The Christian life does not forbid ambition. It crucifies selfish ambition. It does not forbid excellence. It sanctifies excellence. It does not forbid influence. It strips influence of vanity and hands it back as stewardship.
If God gives you a large work, do it humbly. If He gives you a hidden work, do it joyfully. If He gives you a dangerous job, do it bravely. But in every case, do not confuse being noticed with being faithful. One gets your name passed around. The other gets “Well done” from the only Judge whose voice matters.
The Christian is not called to become big in the eyes of men, but to become true before God. If obedience makes him great, fine. If not, obedience was still the greater thing.