At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? — Matthew 18:1
Not long ago, I was reading a news article online about a sports event. As the article drew to a close, there were comments that people across the world had left in response to the article. While many commented on the article, sharing what they agreed and disagreed with, another conversation caught my attention.
A disagreement was taking place about who was the greatest athlete of all time in this specific sports category. The author had mentioned several athletes, but the commenters were sharing their personal feelings about who was truly the best. Not long after the comments started, the insults began as well. I remember reading the words in multiple posts that suggested other commenters had no clue what they were talking about.
Throughout time, there have often been disagreements about who is the best. Musicians, athletes, speakers, and more have all been ranked by various experts across the world. But in this verse, we see the disagreement is not about who is the best at something in this world, but instead, who is the greatest in Heaven.
In the next few verses, Jesus shared with the disciples about how someone gets to Heaven, through faith and humility like that of a child. Jesus never shared that one Christian was above another in heavenly rank. Yet, we often still rank Christians in our world today.
We often rank famous pastors, speakers, teachers, and more higher than other Christians for what they do. But in Jesus’ comments, we can see that He doesn’t look at a rank, He looks at the heart. Jesus’ actions teach us that it is more important that we focus on being ready to go to heaven, and sharing Jesus with others so they can go too.
Do you spend your time comparing yourself to other Christians or trying to be better than other Christians? Don’t! Christianity is not a comparison game. Instead, focus on the details of what Jesus teaches here. Make sure you are ready for Heaven, and do everything you can to make sure everyone else knows how to get there too!
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