Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Week 40 - Day 4

Matthew 18-20; Proverbs 6:20-35

*Click here to read these passages:

“This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.” Matthew 19:30 MSG

Jesus said stuff like this quite a bit … “the first will be last and the last first,” “whoever humbles himself like the child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” “whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”  He set the example.  “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I love how Jesus would turn things around from what people normally thought.  He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.”  He wants us to be different.  He doesn’t want us to strive to be better than each other or to seek a high position.  We should not seek to be exalted.  He wants us to be humble, to be like children without anything to get in the way of our faith, and He wants us to serve others.  It is not the rich and the powerful and the famous that are blessed the most; it is those who have given everything up for His sake who will receive a hundred times as much. 

Jesus cared about women and children and the mentally or physically challenged when in that time all these types of people were seen as lowly and unimportant nuisances.  When they would want to be near Jesus, the disciples and others would rebuke them, but Jesus tells them to come.  He shows them love and gives them value. 

Everyone always seems to be trying to make it to the top … to be the greatest, when what God really wants is for us to notice the people around us and lift them up instead.  The Great Reversal.    

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