Great Men Are Not Born

Great men world over are not born great. They are made to become great as they grow. Their education, exposure and experienced is what makes them to become great.

Acts 7:17-29 New International Version (NIV)
17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

Extraordinary (Verse 20)

You were not born ordinary. You were born extraordinary – your birth was under God’s will for a specific purpose on earth. Remember that resumes always list accomplishments while history lists achievers.

Preserved (Verse 21)

God has preserved you from the jaws of death for your purpose. Therefore, you are alive today because you have something to offer the world.

You have been trained (Verse 22)

The experiences that God allowed you to go through in life were meant to equip you for your purpose. As a result, Moses spent a great part of his life in the palace. This greatly impacted on his leadership abilities. Similarly, God’s training has equipped you for your area of operation, and greatness, for that matter.

God’s calling (Verse 23-24)

Deciding to sense and understand God’s calling over your life is key (Ezekiel 2:7-3:4). Sensing God’s call over your life is what sets you in motion towards your purpose. In addition, understanding God’s calling is what enables you to craft the right strategy (plan of action) for achieving your purpose.

This is a strategy that will be divine in nature, and not human, in wisdom and resources. Please note that crafting your own strategy, like Moses, will lead to failure and retraining.

Deal with your failures (Verse 29)

Men that are destined for greatness deal with their failures. It took Moses a generation’s time (40 years) to deal with his. Consequently, those who had seen him fail had passed on or forgotten during that time period.

Just because success stories never highlight failures, they shouldn’t be swept away. Your failures will never go away until you deal with them (Numbers 32:23 and Psalm 119:67-72). When you deal with your failures, you allow God to reactivate His call over your life.