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Twenty-one is a reading plan we created with the hope that it will help you connect with God and prepare your heart for Easter. We’re glad you’ve opted to join us on this journey and look forward to celebrating Easter with you!
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Day 7
Jesus followed God’s backward path to greatness and we can too.
We all want to be special. We all want to be great.
While we may not want to stand on a stage or be recognized by millions, we all want to be great in our own right and in our own way.
You want to be a great mom.
You want to be a great friend.
You want to be a great fashion designer.
You want to be known for your charitable heart.
You desire deeply to be a great teacher, husband, artist, businessman or businesswoman, nurse, leader, follower, pastor, or athlete.
You have your way that you want to be great.
Nothing in you walks around hoping to be average or below average or terrible. We don’t desire insignificance. We don’t long to be unimportant and menial. We long for greatness, which makes it so awesome that God has a plan for greatness.
It’s no surprise that as the men following Jesus witnessed his power through healings and other miracles, they began to feel pretty good about themselves. They had been invited into Jesus’ inner circle!
Within the inner circle of the inner circle, a debate began to form. They assumed they were great because they had been called to follow him so closely . . . but who was the greatest of the great?
As they walked one day, that debate was at the center of their conversation.
Of course, Jesus caught wind of the conversation and wanted to give clarity to the actual path to greatness. He sat them down and said this:
“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
— Mark 9:35
Can you imagine the looks on their faces?
“Wait, what? Hold up. To be first, I have to be last? To be great, I have to be nothing?”
That’s so backwards.
But Jesus followed God’s backward path to greatness and we can too.
Jesus became nothing, dying a criminal’s death on the cross.
And that made him the greatest of all.
So what is making you great today? Is it your success? Is that what makes you great? Or is it the moment you die to yourself and become a servant to those around you?
You can be great today. You know you want to be.
So become no big deal as you make a big deal of someone else. That’s what makes you great.
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