Exodus 16-18 Matthew 18:1-20

“At that time the followers came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’” (Matthew 18:1)

The disciples had their choices narrowed down to twelve. Each of them must have had exactly one vote. It was time for Jesus to break the tie. They asked. They waited for the answer with bated breath. Jesus looked at them, then looked at the crowd. He called a child over and stopped him in front of the disciples. The message was loud and clear. Jesus was telling them to stop fighting over honor and recognition, and start working to please God. Children back then didn’t have much status, but I’m willing to guess that they did their chores and they learned their father’s job hoping to please their father.

We have an acronym that we use to describe greatness: GOAT. I’ll be honest, it took me a while to understand it, because the goat was always the guy who messed up. If you want to start an argument among sports fans, just mention who you think is the Greatest Of All Time in a specific sport. You could argue for or against people depending on what criteria you think is important for that title. I think the point that Jesus makes is if we’re trying to be the Christian GOAT, we’ve misunderstood our call. Our job is not to be “greater than” the next follower of Christ, our job is to use our gifts to please the Father.

Lord, You put me on earth for a reason and You’ve given me gifts to accomplish that person. Let me use those gifts to please You. Help me to serve You faithfully.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.