First Is Last

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Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Mark 9:35

What!? The First Should Be Last? The First should be Servant of All? This is not what we are taught in this world, right? The First is always King, right? The First shall be praised, right? No, not in the Kingdom of God. If you truly want to be first you should be willing to become last

Jesus has totally flipped the tables on our understanding of who we are. In the world we grow up trying to become the greatest we can, no matter who we step on! But Jesus wants us to stop focusing on ourselves for once and focus on our neighbors, focus on our family, most importantly focus on God!

Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me Mark 9:36-37

Jesus then take a little child, sits them on his knee, and tells his disciples, “If you want to be great, be like one of these little children”! What?! The disciple’s egos are immediately broken. But we are in the inner circle of Christ! What qualities can we learn from a child?

Are children afraid to ask questions or say they don’t know? No! Are children born racist or hateful? No! Until we learn to humble ourselves like children, and see the world through the eyes of a child, we can never be first!

Deny yourself, Carry your Cross, and Follow Jesus! Then you will become great in the Kingdom of God!

7 thoughts on “First Is Last”

  3. Pete Makris--writer

    Thanks for this piece. Jesus had to show them a different way instead of the way of the world, which was of course “Me first-I deserve recognition”. He also had to do this when the mother of James and John wanted them to be on Jesus’ right and left hand when He came into His kingdom. Obviously, she had no idea what she was asking.
    We’re a little more subtle today in the way we tend to see ourselves as more important than we really are, but we still tend to do it too.
    Keep up the great posts. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Unashamed of Jesus Post author

      Amen brother! Yes true Christianity is about self denial… This is not what we’re seeing today in Modern day Christianity… until we deny ourselves and carry our crosses, then we can follow Christ! God bless you!

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