Matthew 18:1

Matthew 18:1

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Before I was saved I did have a good handle on biblical stories, but not the bible itself.  I remember a conversation with a young lady about how she preferred the Old Testament to the New Testament.  She said in the Old Testament people were real; they made mistakes just like we do, but in the New Testament people were too ‘perfect.’   This person was a long time Christian and had been raised in the church, Sunday school and was active in the Youth Group; but, obviously she did not have a good grasp on the bible.

There are many verses that would prove her wrong, but this is a good example.  These men, again, were not all that different than you and I.  They expected heaven to be much like earth with the more faithful having greater status.  The Greatest, of course is God; Christ sets at His right hand and all the rest of us are very fortunate that Christ died for us.  Striving to be the best in a ‘spiritual’ way does not come from hard work, but it comes from loving God so much that we strive to serve Him in all we do, without thought of reward.

I do remember talking with one of the Pastor’s many years ago.  I was teaching a class in a certain area of the church.  The Pastor decided that he needed that area for another class.  To me it was a ‘prestigious’ class room and I felt a twinge of anger (and jealousy) for having to go to the other area.  The new area was fine, physically, for the class, we would be comfortable, but it felt, to me, like a step down.  It took me a few days to get over it; and then I was fine.  Probably a year or two later, when I talked to the Pastor about something else we came around to that decision, I confessed my initial feelings to him.  He was surprised I had felt that way and tried to reassure me as to his reasoning.  I told him I understood and that my initial outlook was not good – and I had overcome that initial response.  But that is the way I had felt at the time.  It was a reveling moment to me; I had placed appearance of status over my service and that was selfish and defeating.

It is easy to do (even if not excusable – especially for me and especially at that time,) it can be a very human response especially when we take the world’s values into our spiritual lives.  We strive at our jobs to be recognized for our good work and hopefully that will allow us to be promoted or receive special privileges.  God is not at all interested in that, He wants servants that will do the job for Him, not for high standings in the church or heaven. 

~ From the Columbia River Gorgeous