“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
As humans we want to be first in everything. We want to be first to win a race. We want to be the first one to eat a warm cookie out of the oven. We want to be first in line to ride a roller coaster at an amusement park. We want to be first in line for Black Friday shopping so we don’t miss out on the best deals. We want to be first in the exit lane off the highway with as many cars as possible behind us.
We all want to be first, but in God’s kingdom He asks us to do just the opposite. He asks us to lay down our human nature to love and serve others before ourselves. There is only one formula in how to do this well: To love and serve God first. “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39
When we put loving God as our first priority we are secure enough to allow others to go before us, because we are confident in knowing there will always be enough for all of us in God’s kingdom. When our hearts are content to trust God, we don’t need to strive to be first.
