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Author: Dan Keating, from the Servants of the Word, an international, ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord.

In the gospel according to Matthew, we read, “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 whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” (Matthew 20:25-28)

These are hard words. They are meant to challenge us at the core—and they do, if we let them. Of course, we say to ourselves, ‘I don't want to lord it over anyone!’ And for most of us this is true: we don’t want a life where we just dominate other people.

But we do like being ‘in charge’. We do like to have things our own way. We are happy when others are serving our needs, and we don’t really want to be bothered serving their needs.

With these words, the Lord Jesus turns things upside down. He doesn’t just unsettle us—he flips us over and knocks us off our feet. But these are not just striking words. Even more striking is the fact that he carried them out, put them into practice, and laid down his precious and sinless life for us.

Today let’s seek his kind of greatness—the greatness of giving our lives away and looking out for the interests of others.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.