With fist-pounding arrogance many of us have been told, “If you don’t believe in Christ, you are going to hell,” or some similar statement. There are many professing Christians who sometimes use their biblical knowledge for their own egos. It makes them feel superior to those who do not share their views.

The truth is, however, that despite the abuse of this knowledge, this really is what the Bible teaches – just not in an abusive way. To be sure, the message of Christ can be offensive because it essentially confronts us with our imperfections and tells us that we either need to be saved from our imperfections or suffer separation from God, with this idea of separation being yet another source of offense, because it assumes that we need God from the beginning.

But we all need to make up our minds about the teachings of Christ, who was certainly one of the most profound historical figures of recorded time. So by way of reminder to some and perhaps as introduction to others I would like to touch briefly on the historical significance of Christ’s exclusive message that so many find offensive.

In Acts 10, we find ourselves in the beginnings of the Christian Church. Cornelius, a Roman citizen by birth, had just believed in Christ. This posed significant implications for Judaism, which taught that only the Jews were eligible to be God’s people and that non-Jews were unclean. (See Acts 10:28) With this in mind, it is important to pay close attention to Peter’s response to Cornelius’ new faith:

…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power… And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Acts 10:38-43

To further understand the significance of this statement, remember that over 4,000 years of related events occurred leading to this point in biblical history. There had been many wars, the assassination of kings, the exiling of Israel (twice), and the fulfilling of many Messianic prophecies. All these plus many other events had led up to the coming of Christ, who came to establish a new covenant different from what the Jews were accustomed.

So what happened to Cornelius was part of the fulfillment of promises made by God throughout thousands of years beforehand, and these were promises of a Messiah who would come and save people from their sins. In fact many in those times past looked forward to the Messiah’s coming. In John 8:56, Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Peter also wrote, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.”

These verses must be considered carefully. It is immensely important to realize that Abraham, the prophets, and many others waited thousands of years for salvation through the Messiah to come. To give some perspective, most of us consider a marriage engagement period of six months or even a year to be an eternity. Sellers of antiques wait at least fifty years for yesterday’s junk to become today’s treasure. The people of China waited over two thousand years for the Great Wall to be completed. But these events are nothing compared to the four thousand years of waiting for the promised Messiah. The gravity of these Messianic promises is unimaginable.

To further understand the weight of these Messianic expectations, remember the prophecy that God spoke through Isaiah hundreds of years before Christ,

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

And in speaking of His plan to bring salvation to the whole world, God also said through Isaiah,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)

What is meant by this “light for the nations”? It speaks of the coming of Christ and the message of salvation to the whole world through Him. After waiting thousands of years, the fulfilling of this and many other promises erupted into the worldwide explosion of the gospel recorded in the events of Acts. Starting with the apostles, the gospel would be preached to the Jews, who largely rejected it, and then received by the Gentiles, in fulfillment of Isaiah 49:6. Notice what Paul says in Acts 13:47 and the response of the Gentiles: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

This is astounding. This event, which Isaiah had prophesied about some eight hundred years earlier, was now becoming a reality. And what was this reality? Salvation through Buddhism? Islam? Hinduism? Not at all. God precisely culminated these historical events to bring about salvation through Christ alone. Remember the words of Peter, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” We must understand this. There is no other name under heaven that can save us accept Christ.

To conclude with Cornelius, remember that God revealed Christ to Cornelius through the appearance of an angel, a vision, and the sign of the Holy Spirit. Cornelius needed Christ, otherwise God would not have gone to such great lengths to reveal Christ to him. If other religions or faiths were acceptable paths to Christ for Cornelius, then 4,000 years of Messianic promises and prophecies were irrelevant, as was God’s grand presentation of Christ. The Christian message is that Cornelius, along with all other people on this earth, need a redeemer for the forgiveness of their sins so that they may have a right standing before God. They need salvation, and that salvation comes only through the name and person of Jesus Christ. This is the core teaching of Christianity. No fist-pounding arrogance required.

Photo by Piotr Pawel

In a culture where revenge and retaliation are highly valued (Kill Bill, anyone?), it isn’t popular to promote kindness and patience towards those who are angry with us, especially when we are truly being wronged. But ironically this is exactly what Solomon learned in his wisdom.

Why is this so? Because at the core, anger is a very strong emotion that influences our ability to think rationally and lovingly. If uncontrolled, anger causes us to act and speak impulsively, and often we damage ourselves and others in the process. Proverbs 14:29 says, “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” Solomon knew well that uncontrolled anger results in foolish behavior. The more we allow our anger to consume us, the ways in which we act irrationally become more and more severe. In our anger we often say hurtful, stupid things. Some commit physical violence in their anger, and some, when driven to great depths of rage, commit murder.

Anger leads a man into tunnel vision. He can become so narrowly focused on the object of his anger that he is unable to even begin thinking about solutions toward peace. This is because anger erodes our ability to think clearly, and it is why Solomon contrasts anger with understanding — because uncontrolled anger destroys understanding, which inhibits us from hurtful actions.

Did you know that even the world of science understands this to be true? From a physiological standpoint, a Harvard study in 2006 found that,

A look into the brains of normal subjects revealed that anger increases blood flow to a reasoning part of their brains, an area over the left eye just behind the forehead, technically called the orbitofrontal cortex. This flow inhibits thoughts of rage. At the same time, blood flow increased activity in the amygdala, an almond-shaped knot of tissue deep in the brain that deals with emotion and vigilance.

Angry feelings arising in the amygdala are normally cooled by activity in the frontal cortex, part of the thinking region of the brain. However, in some severely depressed people a lack of both recognition and control of anger, can lead to violent rage. Source

The study confirms that when feelings of anger are present, another part of our brain is attempting to protect us from acts of rage to “cool our jets,” so to speak. In a real physical sense, anger and understanding are battling one another in our minds. If we allow the anger side of the battle to win, we may say things and act in a way we never thought were possible.

So what does this all have to do with winning an argument? Well many, if not most arguments are sparked by a response of anger by at least one party. Our natural reaction to this is often to fight anger with anger. So then both parties enter into the “discussion” being angry, and when both parties allow that anger to escalate, the argument usually results in the absence of understanding, many hurtful things are said and done, and very little if any progress is made toward resolution.

However, when one party stays calm and speaks sincerely*, the result can often be agreement and peace between both sides. This is because the calm party can often soothe the angry party back into a state of understanding. Consider the wise words of Solomon,

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it. Proverbs 16:14

With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone. Proverbs 16:14

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. Ecclesiastes 10:4

So the next time you are in an argument where you and the other party are angry, remember and fight to stay calm, be kind and sincere, and patiently wait the passing of your anger. Doing so brings great reward and it honors God. Remember the words of Solomon who said, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”

*I say “sincerely” because some like myself, are often able to stay calm but speak hurtful words with a smug or sarcastic attitude, and this is wrong!

In recent months I have struggled with deep discouragement. It is the kind of repeated discouragement that is compounded by common imperfections of my life that I have failed to overcome. It is the kind of discouragement that comes from knowing with 100% certainty that I will fail again, and I will have to build the courage to make another attempt. What makes this even more difficult is that knowing that I will fail crushes almost any desire I have to try.

I do not consider myself a weak person, at least in some respects. But I have failed hundreds and even thousands of times. By the grace and strength of God I have gotten up time and time again. Countless times I have I felt like David when he said, “Answer me quickly, Lord, my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.”

Lately a lot of my discouragement has centered on the contrasting relationships I have with churchgoers and the worldly. I am surprised about how much I enjoy being around non-Christians. I find it increasingly easy to relate and interact with them. Because I am with the same non-believers almost every day, I get to know them intimately and can share Christ with them more often than my churchgoing counterparts. As for churchgoers, for various reasons I find it increasingly difficult to have relationships with them.

What is the cause of this? I think a major culprit is the theft of our time in the American church. It seems that if we do not fit into the natural routines of each other’s lives, then our potential relationships with each other are an unfortunate casualty; I’m sure the feeling is mutual yet undesired. I think most Christians can share a part of the blame for this problem, but in some ways we are also victims of our culture’s thievery. Our lives may be too busy, and I think perhaps we need to slow down and refocus our schedules for a bit more flexibility and purposeful randomness.

How do we fix this problem? Honestly I don’t exactly know. I’m still thinking these things through. Even if I did arrogantly assume that I had all the answers, it would still be an issue that would take decades of mass effort to accomplish. But in an effort to contribute my very small part, here is an outline of some of my own thoughts on the dilemma that I may further develop as time goes on.

• Culture is against the church
  • Daily bombarded with distractions of information, entertainment, and visual media. Culture attempts to define our interests, beliefs, and priorities.
    • Cultures prompts us to spend our time watching visual media, listening to music, making money to purchase must-have items (ie., iPods, phones, tvs), etc. Do we realize that this industry’s job is to manipulate our emotions so that we think we must be a part of these events and own these items? Should we rather seek to be manipulated by the perceived needs of those around us?
  • Social networking. While social networking can be a valuable tool of communication, it often steers our energies and concentration away from real life relationships with those we can impact the most. Seems also to lend itself to indiscretion, gossip, and complaining, which is further divisive to relationships.
  • Because of these distractions our relationship skills can become out of practice. It can be uncomfortable and inconvenient for us to build new relationships. Plus we may fear that these relationships will never come to fruition because the distractions of our lives will kill any momentum and they will die.
  • Culture has negatively influenced relationships within churches.
    • We tend to live where we work, not where we attend church. This means that we are often separated from other members by great distances that make relationships with other church members a challenge. This also may partly explain why we may feel closer to our co-workers than our fellow church members.
    • Professionalism has infiltrated the church. To keep folks interested, many churches feel the need to have a full calendar of planned/managed activities and events. Because of the work and the stress involved, many of these events are self-defeating and ultimately function as a distraction to the higher purposes of serving each other and the lost. Many of these events do not result in the spiritual growth of the body or the spread of the gospel, but rather more as a means of busyness.
  • Current culture is increasingly unsupportive of the the importance and understanding of monogamous faithful marriage and the bearing of children. These two God-ordained aspects of life are foundational to the goodness of mankind and above all, the spiritual growth and maturity of the Church.
  • The “Fast-food” culture pervades into Church culture.
    • Do we expect fast results and as such are trained to be impatient when relationships do not come to fruition as quickly as we think they ought?
    • Have television and movies trained us to think that relational issues should be solved in 30 minutes, so to speak?
    • Has the entertainment industry trained us to think that relationships should be “entertaining” at all times? And if the people we know do not entertain us, do we not seek out relationships with them?
• Conclusion
  • Because of the impact of culture on our available time, there is none to waste. Leisure and relaxing activities are however important.
  • Introspection and restructuring of culture’s hold on our lives so that we are in control of how our time is spent, rather than culture controlling our time.
  • Encourage and work with one another to build new relationships, fighting against culture for momentum, so that relationships will not die. All parties must be in it for the long haul.
  • Churches may need to revisit their schedule of activities, considering the precious limited time and energy of the working class. They should check to see if they are contributing to the tiring of their congregation, or their spiritual refreshing. Decreasing structured events and increasing activities involving basic fellowship may be more helpful.
  • The Church must fight for and promote the importance of marriage and children in society.

Obviously this is not an exhaustive or complete list.

A crucial point on the path to contentment is the battle against anxiety, which is defined as incessant concern and fear over life challenges. Anxiety is basically the fear of feeling out of control of difficult circumstances.

In Philippians 4:4-7, Paul gives some interesting advice about dealing with anxiety. He says,

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Keep in mind that this counsel follows Paul’s addressing of the tension between two Christian women in the church. Key point: The first bit of advice from Paul is to rejoice in the Lord. One might think that Paul would have instructed them to confront one another first. But Paul understood that these women needed to fix their minds squarely on Christ and soften their hearts before approaching each other. What should we do when we are in a situation of stress? Go to God, says Paul. Think on him, who he is, who we are in him, and the immeasurable things we have to be thankful for in him. This is the first step to battling anxiety—to rejoice in the Lord. To better understand this, it is helpful to explore what it means to rejoice.

You see, we rejoice in something because it is worthy of rejoicing over. And the way that something is worthy of rejoicing over is by what we know about that something. Because what that something is, if it is something wonderful, provokes within us a cause for rejoicing, and we find great delight in it. For example, when a husband thinks about his wonderful wife, he thinks about the characteristics that make her who she is. The husband knows many things about her, and he recalls these things to mind. He thinks about her beliefs and how her beliefs motivate her to be the delightful person that she is. He thinks about the countless wonderful memories where he delighted in his wife. And these thoughts provoke rejoicing within his heart, because he has abundant reasons to do so.

And so it should be with the Christian as we consider who our God is. If a husband has reason to delight in his wonderful yet imperfect wife, how much more reason ought we to have to delight in the magnificent God of the universe who dwells in infinite perfection, who has given of himself to us out of perfect love and mercy? He is ever-trusting and ever-faithful. His mercies are never-failing. Even the most wonderful wife cannot come close to matching the excellence of God. We have endless reasons to rejoice in the greatness of the Lord, and to do this we must remember who he is, what he has done for us, and what he promises to us. This is a powerful way to fight against anxiety in our lives.

So then, if we mope and pity ourselves, we should find it as no surprise when we have much anxiety in our lives. Have you seen how the nonbeliever is affected by the uncertainties of life? They are a constant source of worry to him, and he can only deal with them in his own strength.  Their methods are numerous. Some turn to exercise, television, or other hobbies for relief. Some turn to drugs, alcohol, or pornography. But no matter what worldly solutions the non-believer seeks, his anxieties are still there when he closes his eyes at night. His only hope is that somehow he will be able to make it through those difficulties on his own strength.

But how different it is with the believer! We have no reason to fear the cruelties of this life. We have the sovereign God of the universe working for our good. The most powerful being in existence is for us. And this great God who is for us is also sovereign. He has perfect control over all our circumstances, and he is able to carry all the weight of our burdens. So we must rejoice in the Lord, because he is sovereign, because he loves us, because he is infinitely concerned for us, because he promises to look after us, and because he has everything in control. May God help you to rejoice in him because of who he is in his incomprehensible greatness. By doing so, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

Are you good at multi-tasking? Many of us can do a number of jobs at the same time. Some of us can even process multiple bits of information in our minds about completely different subjects simultaneously. In fact, God equips each human with the ability to hold a number of positions, and sometimes these positions even overlap within the same moment of time. For example, this occurs for one who is both husband and father, who is called upon to act simultaneously in these roles everyday.

But these types of roles pertain only to our occupation. By “occupation” I am referring to life-contexts that occupy our thoughts and actions, but these roles do not define our character and values. Character roles which define our values and determine our actions are different from occupational roles because character roles cannot overlap. For example, one could still fulfill roles as both husband and father and yet be a person of poor character. And while he may exhibit moments of weakness, he cannot simultaneously be a person of excellent character.

This concept is important to grasp because it helps build the mental framework for understanding the contrast between living in Christ and living in sin. Paul highlights this contrast when he says, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8) A person cannot please God if he lives to please himself. Living for God is opposite to living for self.

To better understand this, we need to explore the phrase “in the flesh.” In Romans 8:3, Paul says that the law failed as a path to fulfilling the “righteous requirement of the law” because “sin in the flesh” prevented us from doing so. The reason sin in the flesh prevents us from keeping the law is found in the link between sin and flesh. Paul previously explained this link in Romans 7:5,

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

This verse makes everything clear. Do you see that the flesh is where our “sinful passions” originate? The flesh is the perfect soil for seeds of sin to grow so that when we are challenged to do what is right in the eyes of God, our sinful passions are aroused to disobey God.

So to live in the flesh is to live in sin, because living in the flesh results only in the uprising of sinful passions. Unmistakably, the flesh and sin are inseparably linked. So then “in the flesh” can be defined as the state of being under the control of sin — like a slave. This is why Paul says in Romans 6:16,

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

And this all ties back to the original point about contrasting roles of character. One cannot be in the flesh and simultaneously be in Christ. One cannot live as a slave to his sinful passions and simultaneously live as a slave to obedience. And again, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” One is either a slave to himself and his flesh, or he is a slave to obedience in Christ. The two states cannot exist within a person at the same time.

And for the one who does not live in the flesh, Paul says “the Spirit of God dwells in [him].” (Romans 7:9). This is profound, because those who have the Spirit of God have assurance that,

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 7:11)

Fewer passages are clearer than John 15:1-17 about the actions of a true follower of Christ. Many folks talk the talk, but this passage outlines the characteristics of those who also walk the walk.

God “cuts off every branch [ ] that bears no fruit.” The word “fruit” is the Greek word karpos and in this context refers to resulting actions or lifestyle. These particular actions are special because they can only result within someone who is in Christ. This is why Christ said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”

It is important, then, to recognize that the fruit mentioned here is proprietary to living in Christ. In other words, bearing Christian fruit is possible only as the Christian is in the vine, who is Christ. Conversely a person living outside of Christ cannot produce this same type of fruit because he is not of the vine of Christ, just as an apple tree cannot produce oranges. We see similar language in Romans 8:9,

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

So bearing Christian fruit is the opposite of living in the flesh. Living in the vine of Christ is symmetrical to living in the Spirit of God. One cannot bear fruit outside the spirit of Christ, because they do not belong to Christ.

There are many in American culture who claim to be in Christ and yet do not know him. Perhaps this reality is best illustrated in Matthew 7:21-23 when Christ himself spoke of those who boasted of their great works but did not know him. Paul too spoke of “false believers” (2 Corinthians 11:26) and preachers with “false motives” (Philippians 1:18). I suspect if American culture were less amenable to Christian freedom, many would relinquish their ties to Christ.

Let no one be mistaken. True Christian fruit is borne out of a deep desire to know Christ more fully. While those outside the vine of Christ may portray fruit that resembles a life in Christ, if we were able to examine their hearts we would see selfish motives at the root of their actions. If we are truly in Christ then we share in the same attitude as Paul, which he expressed in Philippians 3:7,

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…

A brief word on the famous verse in Philippians 4:13 which reads, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Sometimes this verse is mistakenly interpreted to mean that one can accomplish anything as long as they have enough faith or belief in God that they can do it. This is what often happens when verses are stripped of their context.

Because the context of this verse is talking about facing times of plenty or times of poverty, Paul is saying is that he can  endure and persevere through any situation or circumstance of plenty or poverty through Him Who strengthens. This is exactly why back in verse 6 Paul charged the Philippians to not be anxious about anything, but to give all of their needs to the hand of the Lord. Paul was trying to explain to them that they had no need to be anxious about anything, since God is sovereignly dependable in providing the strength to endure all hardships and difficulties. And of course we must apply this teaching to our own Christian lives.

In Philippians 4:10-13, Paul explains his current situation in prison. The Philippians had just sent Paul a valuable gift. Exactly what that gift was we cannot know exactly, but it must have been a pretty substantial gift because the Philippians apparently had not, as Paul stated, had an opportunity to give to Paul as they had before. This implies that the Philippians gave to Paul more than just a few small items, since the Philippians most likely could have sent those things at any time. But the wonderful thing about Paul’s receiving of the gift is that the size of the gift didn’t matter to Paul.

Now what I mean is that Paul had no expectations of any type of gift from the Philippians. Whether he knew beforehand that a gift was coming from the Philippians does not matter. Either way it did not ultimately concern Paul whether he received a $10,000 donation or a can of sardines.

Why is this? Because as he said in verse 11, he had “learned in whatever situation [he was] to be content.” By “content” Paul means to be satisfied with one’s current state of being. For Paul, when a person is content he is satisfied with all of the conditions and circumstances surrounding his life. He is at rest about all that he does and does not have. This does not mean that Paul had an ascetic or legalistic attitude about material possessions. Whether Paul was rich or poor, filled or hungry, he was content in the sense of being satisfied. This is true contentment. When one is content he is not only satisfied with what he has, but he also is satisfied with what he does not have, even if what he has had before has been taken from him.

But why exactly was Paul this way toward material possessions? The answer is back in Philippians chapter three where Paul proclaimed that everything else was rubbish to him except the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. This means that for one to be truly content, that he must find his supreme delight in the pursuit of knowing God in Jesus Christ. Only in knowing Christ can one truly experience this joy of contentment, because to have such an experience requires the placing of Christ as the supreme object of one’s desires and needs. The Christian will experience true joy in being satisfied only as much he gives himself to Christ, because as the Christian gives himself to serving Christ, he begins to trust in Christ more for his needs. As a result, he sees the amazing work of Christ’s provision in his life, and therefore he is able to be content in any situation he is in – he has made Christ to be his satisfaction, not any of the possessions he might get.

As I sit in the airport, a nicely dressed lady in high-heel boots walks by with her rolling suitcase, focused intently on reaching her destination. To my right a man dressed in sweats peeks frequently toward the runway while waiting impatiently for his flight. A young family of three checks a stroller into storage before boarding the plane. An elderly lady with purse in lap waits pensively in her wheelchair for assistance to her seat.

I wonder about these folks and where they are going. Every person has a different story. Some are going for casual family visits. Others are leaving cherished loved ones behind to make a fresh new start, never to return. Still others are on business, out to establish financial partnerships, hoping to increase their capital.

This is the way of the world—the fight to adapt, survive, and live comfortably. Among all levels of aspiration, whether great or small, the desire to enjoy life is the same for all people of the world. Everyone is naturally driven for this purpose. Transcending all contexts of humanity, the pursuit of enjoyment and self-satisfaction is one of the few constants in human nature for everyone. That is because all humans were created to enjoy their lives, and everyone instinctually desires to do so.

For those outside of Christ their desires for self-satisfaction are limited by the aging boundaries of life. Their hopes and dreams are contained within this world. And when hopelessness comes upon those who realize these things, they distract themselves with more worldly pursuits of enjoyment. But in the end it will not be enough for the reality to come.

Consider the words of Christ:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25

And also,

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:26

Lastly,

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

Are your hopes and dreams are captured by this world alone? Do you cling to your life on earth, ignoring the reality that it will all be over all too soon? What have you told yourself about life after death? Open the Bible and read the words of Christ. Disregard all the presuppositions you have in your mind about him. Read it and make up your own mind.

Even the disciples sometimes seemed to struggle with this kind of worldly greatness. At times they felt that that they were worthy enough to ask Jesus for a place beside Him in His glory (see Mark 10:32-45). They wanted to share in the greatness of Christ. Surely they had fallen into pride about being one of the twelve chosen by the Son of God. They felt a sense of self-greatness, and they felt entitled to special treatment because of their assumed greatness.

True greatness in God’s kingdom means following the example of Christ in loving others and putting others before ourselves. It does not come by exercising whatever authority we have over people, whether it be employees, church members, or even children. Our greatness in God’s eyes is not seen in how well we can lord it over others, but greatness is seen in how we can serve others and put their interests above our own. True greatness does not see how high I can elevate myself above others, but instead how high I can elevate others above myself.

The truly great seek to humble themselves before God in the service of others. That is why Paul says in Philippians that we are to “in humility count others more significant than [ourselves].” In Romans 12 Paul says that we are to “love one another with brotherly affection,” and to “outdo one another in showing honor.” It is clear then, that being great in the eyes of Christ comes only as we give ourselves in service to others by putting ourselves at the feet of others for the love of Christ. We serve others not because we wish to elevate ourselves, but because we wish to elevate God in His own love for us.

To be sure, the service that Christ calls us to does not mean that we should submit to every request and desire of another. By being a “slave” to others does not mean unquestioning service to any desire. Such an attitude would be contrary to Scripture itself, since Jesus Himself tells us that we are to forsake the world. We know that the world will make requests of us that would cause us to do things we shouldn’t. Obviously, then, serving of others does not mean fulfilling every desire that any person may have.

What serving others does mean is being concerned for the best interests of others. Would Christ be concerned about anything else except what is best for others? Or would He be concerned in a way that is detrimental to the best interests of others? Obviously not. We see this confirmed for us in Philippians 2:3-4, where Paul explains that in avoiding selfish ambition and vain conceit, we are to look to Christ as an example. In simple words, sometimes serving others in their best interests means fulfilling their desires, and sometimes it means denying their desires. But the driving principle behind both situations is a service that is truly concerned for the best interests of others, both great and small.

Ultimately, Christ’s service is directed to the end of declaring God’s glory and bringing sinners to God. Our service should be driven by the same desire. This is a demanding calling, but God always gives us the grace to do what He commands. His Spirit enables us to rise above self and reach out to others. Such self-sacrificing service is true greatness in the eyes of God.