Do You Want To Be The Greatest?

³³ After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” ³⁴ But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”
-Mark 9:33-35 (NLT)


Do you want to be the greatest? In the business world, everyone wants to be the best at whatever they do. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be the best, the greatest at what you do. The problem comes in when that becomes the thing in your life. When you sacrifice everyone and anything that gets in your way to being the best. It's called pride. Pride is defined as "Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association."* It's when you take credit for whatever has been done in life. The disciples of Jesus had a bout with pride. Look at today's verses.


Verse 34 reveals that they had been arguing about who was the greatest. The greatest disciple, really? Verses 14-29 of this chapter reveal that they couldn't even cast a demon out of a child, and they want to argue about who of them is the greatest? Maybe Peter, James and John thought highly of themselves because they were present at His Transfiguration (verses 2-23). Anyway, they were arguing about who as the greatest. Jesus knew this, knew their hearts. He said in verse 35, "Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Look at His words, as it is vastly different that what we think today. Whoever wants to be first, must be the servant of others. Whoever wants to be the greatest must be the servant of others. I know several ladies at my church who must be the greatest because they serve everyone else. Are you willing to serve others? I'm not talking about being someone's butler or slave. What I'm talking about is are you willing to do to others what others will not do? Are you willing to sacrifice your pride and help someone in need? Are you willing to do the "behind the scenes" jobs that no one sees, instead of being out front receiving the praise? Do you really want to be the greatest? Think About It
source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pride