I’m not that old, but I’ve been around the church my entire life and I’ve noticed an alarming trend – especially in the last few years. Everyone wants to be first. This isn’t a new issue, but the means people use to get to be first are the issue.

I’ve seen those who claim to have a call to ministry push and shove through the ranks of the church so that they can be on top while others, with quiet humility, serve and are then promoted (or sometimes even looked over by the ones who stepped on them on their way to the top). The world would ask why it would matter how they got there as long as they got there. Do what you have to do to get where you need to go. Jesus would say otherwise.

If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Mark 9:35b (ESV)

A Bible school teacher said that we must first learn to submit before we can ever learn to properly use authority. Isn’t this exactly what Jesus is telling us?

Learn to serve so that you can learn to lead.

Daily Bible reading: Numbers 30-31, Mark 9:30-50