The Road to Greatness...

I often hear messages on the road to greatness being the road of humility. As Matthew 20:26-27 says, "...whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:" The preaching usually goes something like this: You have to be willing to clean the toilets if you want to be the leader, the pastor for example. You don't just come in and say, I'll run the show - instead you do whatever is needed of you. That is how you achieve greatness - God will exalt you...

Then last night, I heard a message from Mark 9, and as I was reading the passage it says this, "...If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all..." But wait a minute... I thought that if I were to humble myself, then I would be exalted and be first. I just had to start out low. But what this verse in Mark is saying is: if you desire to be first, you will be last.

The message I think is being portrayed is this. Humble acts do not make you humble. They may have a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility (Col. 2:23), but I believe they actually demonostrate that it is not real humility. Humility is not just being willing to do the dirty work to "climb the corporate ladder" (though that principle is a good one to follow for secular matters), but rather real humility is content at always being last.

God chooses to use those that are humble for His purposes. He does promise to exalt "in due time," not necessarily when you want or expect, but when He ordains. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. True humility does not say, I will humble myself so that I may end up being first, but rather humility says, I will humble myself so that somebody else may be first.

Just a thought...