by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Who is <\/b>the greatest in the kingdom of God? Out of all the people in Galilee, out of all the people who came to see Jesus, out of all the disciples who followed Jesus, the apostles were chosen. Is that not enough? No, they constantly argued about which of them was the greatest (cp. Matthew 20:20-28; 23:11; Mark 9:34; 10:35-45; Luke 9:46-48; 22:24-27).<\/p>\n
What is <\/b>greatness? How do we define it? How do we measure it? Great in what<\/strong>? Great in influence? In encouragement? In forgiving? In mercy? In benevolence? The world’s goals would include being rich, famous, powerful, popular, etc. Some are in fact ‘great’ at accomplishing such goals, and yet they are extremely poor towards God. This hits at the very heart of man’s purpose in life.<\/p>\n We are stewards, for not only do all our possessions come by the permissive will of God, but also our abilities. Our very lives are totally dependent upon Him (Acts 17:28). We make plans and purposes only to have the circumstances of life nullify them. (read Proverbs 19:21).<\/p>\n Under the law of Moses, they were warned to remember that “In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 8:16-18).<\/p>\n What do you have that you did not receive (I Corinthians 4:7)? This was said in the context of arguing about who was ‘the greatest teacher’. Yet, Paul affirms that even in that <\/b>role, it is not about being ‘greater’, but about being faithful to God. Living up to one’s ability will bring a ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant’ from our Lord. Of whom much is given, much is required. Yet, having done all that is required, we are still unworthy of God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness (Luke 17:10)<\/p>\n We are servants, servants of God. Let us strive to serve one another. Paul said: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others<\/em>” (Philippians 2:3-4)<\/p>\n Are you great at putting others first?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? Out of all the people in Galilee, out of all the people who came to see Jesus, out of all the disciples who followed Jesus, the apostles were chosen. Is that not enough? No, they constantly argued about which of them was the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[463,126],"class_list":["post-97209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-humility","tag-pride"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-would-a-servant-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":97209,"position":0},"title":"What Would a Servant Do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"But Jesus called them to him and said, \"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":98058,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-who-is-least-is-great\/","url_meta":{"origin":97209,"position":1},"title":"He Who Is Least Is Great","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier The disciples repeatedly struggled with the very problem I have. In Luke 9:46, \"An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest\" (ESV). And that's the problem. I want to be great. At least, I want you to think I'm great. Of course,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83530,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-loves-the-little-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":97209,"position":2},"title":"Jesus Loves the Little Children","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton via Biblical Insight, Vol. 14, No. 9, September 2014 There are many scenes in which Jesus Christ is the imminent teacher of multitudes, advisor to noblemen, powerful Creator calming a storm, or the great physician healing and raising the dead. His wrath and fury are felt with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/jesus_and_the_children_2-247x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-converted-and-become-like-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":97209,"position":3},"title":"What does it mean to be converted and become like children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you please elaborate on what it means to be \"converted and become like children\" as stated in Matthew 18:1-4? Answer: \"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, \"Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?\" Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-allegiance\/","url_meta":{"origin":97209,"position":4},"title":"Our Allegiance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Arrogance and haughtiness do not appeal to God\u2019s people. Rather, humility and love do, for this is what characterizes our Lord; this is the way of the cross. We must not applaud the conceit and selfish ambition of those in powerful positions lest we find ourselves bowing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0022-8-231x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":90534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/six-great-truths-about-jesus-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":97209,"position":5},"title":"Six Great Truths About Jesus Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Distilled truth \"By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up to glory\" (I Timothy 3:16 NASB). This passage is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}