The Good News
Have you ever played “King of the Hill”? As children we would clamor to the top of a hill, pushing and shoving everyone in our path out of the way. The first kid to make their way to the top shouted, “I’m king of the hill!” Their kingdom was short-lived, however, because the other kids who made their way to the top soon knocked the first kid off the top and then shouted, “Now, I’m king of the hill!” When a kids’ game becomes our way of life in the real world of raising a family, working our way to the top in our paid jobs, going to church and just living life, then we need to stop and read what Jesus says about playing this game. reFocus.
Mark 10, The Message
The Highest Places of Honor
35 James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came up to him. “Teacher, we have something we want you to do for us.”
36 “What is it? I’ll see what I can do.”
37 “Arrange it,” they said, “so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in your glory—one of us at your right, the other at your left.”
38 Jesus said, “You have no idea what you’re asking. Are you capable of drinking the cup I drink, of being baptized in the baptism I’m about to be plunged into?”
39-40 “Sure,” they said. “Why not?”
Jesus said, “Come to think of it, you will drink the cup I drink, and be baptized in my baptism. But as to awarding places of honor, that’s not my business. There are other arrangements for that.”
41-45 When the other ten heard of this conversation, they lost their tempers with James and John. Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.”
In a nutshell…Want to lead? SERVE with a servant’s attitude and heart, with our eyes fixed on our Master.
Dear Heavenly Father, We repent of this inner, human urge to get ahead in life. Cleanse us of every impure motive or thought that offends You. Put Your desires for us in our hearts so deeply that they become our desires. Help us behave as we believe in such a way that it is second nature…we serve readily, without thinking twice, without thinking of what it might do for us. My life is Yours. Make me more gracious as I serve. Thank you for setting us free by the blood You shed for our sin. In Jesus Name, Amen
