Sharing the Good News as a Disciple of JesusSample

Greatness Is Measured in Selfless Service

By Rev. Patrick Feldhus 

“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me, welcomes not just Me but also Him who sent Me.” (Mark 9:37)

Sibling rivalries. With four older brothers, I saw my fair share of sibling rivalries. I did everything in my power to be better than my brothers. If you have siblings, you know what I am talking about. We are well versed in rivalries. 

We try to be better than others and we like to have proof. I threw the shotput 50 feet while my older brother could only throw it 48 feet. But he could throw the hammer over 200 feet, and I could throw it only 150 feet. We liked to argue based on the evidence of our greatness. 

We can even try to measure our greatness in spiritual matters by what we do. Our offerings, our time dedicated to church matters, and the times we help others can be used to display our greatness. 

But there is a problem with this measure of greatness: It is self-serving. Each of these examples about greatness is self-serving. If we measure our greatness like this, it will lead to death. 

Think of the billions of people Jesus bled and died for who do not know that He is their Savior. Most people do not recognize the sacrifice He made for them, but He did it anyway. He died because we all needed Him to die. He demonstrated His greatness by giving up everything for us so that we can have forgiveness and eternal life. 

Now He wants us to follow Him in selfless service to others. And when we serve in this way, we are serving Jesus and our Father, to thank them for the selfless work in rescuing us from sin and death. This is the true measure of greatness. 

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, give us a heart of selfless service to the people in our lives. Help us throw out the sinful desire to make ourselves great in the eyes of the world. Let us do everything we can to point people to the greatness of Your Son. In His name, we pray. Amen.