I am the Greatest
Mark 9:35 Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. They went into a house, and Jesus said to them, “I heard you arguing on the way here today. What were you arguing about?” But the followers did not answer, because their argument on the road was about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve apostles to him. He said, “Whoever wants to be the most important must make others more important than themselves. They must serve everyone else.”
More often than not, God’s wisdom and the world’s wisdom are diametrically opposed. They’re complete opposites. And each time you scratch beneath the surface, God’s wisdom, which at first seems other-worldly, ends up on top.
Politics can, quite frankly, be a grubby game: people scoring points off one another just to be on the top of the heap, to be in control, to win. Now they’re not all like that of course, but sometimes people want to win no matter what the cost.
Just as well you and I aren’t like that. Yeah, right!!
Jesus was listening to his disciples as they were walking along the road, arguing about which one of them was the greatest. So obviously this is not a new problem. From His perspective, it must have sounded odd. Here’s how that played itself out.
Mark 9:33-35 Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. They went into a house, and Jesus said to them, “I heard you arguing on the way here today. What were you arguing about?” But the followers did not answer, because their argument on the road was about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve apostles to him. He said, “Whoever wants to be the most important must make others more important than themselves. They must serve everyone else.”
Just stop and think about the greatest people in your life. They all have one thing in common. They served you the most. They served you and loved you and held you, even when you didn’t deserve it.
Greatness isn’t so much about winning. It’s something that grows quietly but surely in the hearts of the people around us as we serve them, as we become the least … for them.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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