Read Luke 22:24-30
The Greatest Among You Is The One Who Serves.
Jesus just got done telling his disciples that one of them was going to betray him. The conversation went from them debating over who would betray Jesus to which of them was the greatest disciple. How did that happen? I can only speculate that possibly while they were accusing who they thought would betray Jesus, that it resulted in people defending themselves by giving examples of how great they were. Therefore they couldn’t be the betrayer because they were one of the “greatest disciples.”
Regardless of how the conversation went from “betrayer” to “greatest” is irrelevant. Jesus took their debate and used it as a teaching moment to give the key ingredient to be considered the “GREATEST.”
Jesus explained that the greatest isn’t the one who has the most power or the one with the most prestigious title or role. You might be a king but that doesn’t make you great. A king may rule with a “hard fist” influenced by selfish motives. There’s nothing great about that. Such a king loses compassion from those under him because he’s too busy building his own kingdom for his glory.
Jesus said that the greatest among you will be the one who SERVES. Be careful though because you might be seen as a servant but it’s done with wrong motives. Some serve only for attention. Their motive isn’t done out of compassion for the other person and their well-being, but rather so others will think how great they are. Being a servant for the Lord is a very humbling act because you don’t do it for one’s self-glory. You do it because a person needs to experience a love that is real so they feel significant and valued. You do it for the well-being of others which means getting no recognition. You do it for the glory of God. You don’t do it because you want something in return. “Hey I did this for you now you need to do something for me.”
CHALLENGE: Be intentional to serve others today and see what your motives really are.
