Anonymous Greatness

Who was the Good Samaritan? Nobody knows. Who was the poor widow who gave all she had? Nobody knows.

During our Lord's ministry on Earth, He appointed seventy people and sent them two by two before Him into every city and place wither He himself would come. It is noteworthy that the names of these seventy are not recorded. It is so of many others who pass before us in the pages of the Bible. The Bible recognizes the place and the value of towering personalities. And at the same time it recognizes anonymous greatness.

These thoughts from columnist John R. Gunn, "When the seventy returned from their mission, exhaulting in their triumphs, Jesus told them to rejoice not in their achievements, but to rejoice in this, that your names are written in Heaven."

Most of us must be content to be included among the other seventy left unnamed and unknown. But to be unknown does not argue that one is of no importance. Some of the most important church members are those who are unknown outside the little circle in which they move.

A single star may seem to give faint light, but countless stars shining in the night sky make it beautiful. For every famous worker, like Billy Graham, there is a multitude of humble people without whose faithfulness and loyalty His work could not be done.

The Roman Empire was conquered for Christianity. Not by the solitary Pauls alone, but by many thousands of unidentified men and women who made up the early Churches and who lived the Gospel in their daily lives.

Today we recognize and salute the countless thousands who make up the anonymous great.