Americans love greatness. We love great wealth, great success, great possessions, great entertainers, great CEOs, great athletes. I’m old enough to remember when Muhammad Ali declared, “I am the greatest.” And in the world of boxing, he likely was.
We even have a term for our greatest people, especially athletes. We call them “GOAT,” an acronym for Greatest of All Time. For example, a lot of people believe the GOAT of basketball is Michael Jordan, the GOAT of tennis is Serena Williams, the GOAT of swimming is Michael Phelps, the GOAT of gymnastics is Simone Biles, and the GOAT of football is Tom Brady.
Martin Thielen
Soon, the Summer Olympics will begin. The games will spark a lot of discussion about the GOAT in the various sporting venues. People love to debate about who the GOATs actually are, and they hold strong opinions about their choices.
Of course, the “greatest of all time” is not limited to sports. For example, many would say Warren Buffet is the GOAT of finance, the Beatles were the GOAT of rock bands, and Abraham Lincoln was the GOAT of American presidents. The point is, Americans love and admire greatness.
Religious people are no different. We also care about greatness. We have great preachers, great megachurches, great singers, great authors. The Catholic world even has great saints.
The Bible also is interested in greatness. But it offers a different definition of what that means. The GOAT in Christianity is not an individual person like Abraham, Moses, Mary, Peter or Paul. It’s not power, success, fame or money. It’s not even the Bible, doctrinal beliefs or institutional religion.
Instead, the GOAT in the Bible is love.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. … (And) love your neighbor as yourself.”
The second most influential person in Christian history, the Apostle Paul, once said, “These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” When the two primary figures of Christianity both tell us that the greatest thing is love, we need to pay attention.
In short, what matters most in Christianity is living a life of love. Nothing else even comes close.
In his book Religious Refugees, Mark Karris wisely concludes, “After religion is no more and all of the hay and stubble of humanity’s religious creations are burned up, all that will remain is love.” Jesus would concur.
The GOAT in religion is love that shows itself in action. About that there should be no debate.
Martin Thielen, a retired minister, is the creator and author of www.DoubtersParish.com.