Who Is the Greatest?

Consider a man born in a small African village, herding goats as a boy. His father died when he was nine. At sixteen he was told he would never amount to much. He clawed his way into the only university that would take him, was expelled for activism, and eventually gave twenty years to non-violent protest before being arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison. He would spend twenty-seven years behind bars.

The rest of that story is worth waiting for, so hold it in mind. His name was Nelson Mandela, and by the end of his life he was honored as one of the greatest leaders his continent has ever produced. What I want to explore is what the Bible says about becoming that kind of great, and it starts with an argument among the disciples.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, 'Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.'

Mark 9:35

A Desire God Put in You

The disciples had been quietly disputing which of them was the greatest. When Jesus drew it out of them, I half expect Him to rebuke their pride. But He does not. And that should stop us.

Why no rebuke? Because the longing to be great, to be your best at something, is a legitimate desire God has planted in every human heart. You are made in the image of the greatest God there is. If you want to be a wonderful mother, you should be bothered if someone asked who the best mother in the room was and the answer was not you. The same is true of a teacher, a friend, a worker. Paul himself told the Corinthians to earnestly desire the greater gifts, and did not flinch from saying he worked harder than all the other apostles.

So the problem is never the desire to be great. The problem is two other things: the reason you want it, and the way you go after it. Get those wrong and greatness curdles into pride. Get them right and greatness becomes one of the most Christlike things about you.

Greatness Is Self-Control

Here Jesus connects to something we rarely think hard about: self-control, one of the fruit of the Spirit. We usually shrink it down to not eating too much or not losing our temper. But it is bigger than that. Self-control is the ability to govern yourself rather than be governed by others.

Think about it. When someone's words leave you angry and rattled all day, who is in control of you? When you go cold and silent toward a person because of what they did, who is running you? They are. If someone knows exactly which button to push to make you react, then they hold the controls, and you have handed them over. That is a loss of self-control.

So when Jesus says the way up is to humble yourself, notice the phrasing. No one else humbles you, not even God. You humble yourself. That is self-control in its purest form: you decide how you will act, regardless of how others treat you. And then Jesus unpacks exactly what that looks like.

Love the Lowest to Reach Your Highest

Here is the heart of it, and it is worth reading slowly. You cannot attain your highest in life until you bring yourself to love and serve the lowest in your life. This is not the end justifying the means. It is the end hidden inside the means, because only the right reasons could ever move you to pursue greatness this way.

So who are the lowest? There are at least three kinds of people worth naming.

Those Who Cannot Stand

First, the lowest in society, the poor, the needy, those who cannot lift themselves, those who can never repay you. We are endlessly creative with excuses here. "I worked hard for what I have; let them do the same." But do you hear what that means? Now you are being controlled by someone else's supposed laziness. Jesus could not be clearer.

When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Luke 14:13-14

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. You cannot reach your highest until you bend down to serve those who can give you nothing back. Very practically, that means putting food in the pantry, showing up to serve, and giving to those who cannot return the favor.

Those Whom You Cannot Stand

Second, the ones you find hard to love, people with whom you have zero chemistry, believers who are flawed and frustrating, the person who simply gets under your skin. It is easy to love the saintly and the impressive. But if you only serve people who are good to you, you are still being controlled, this time by their goodness.

You will never become the best version of yourself until you bring yourself to love and serve people who are genuinely difficult, even fellow Christians who fail badly and repeatedly. Why? Because Jesus died for them too. If He gave His life for them, surely you can give them a cup of water. Be honest: there is someone at church, at work, or in your own family who comes to mind right now. Do not pretend otherwise. Start small and deliberate: a kind word, a call, a gift, an act of care each month. As you practice it, your heart toward them softens, and you rise above your smaller self into someone larger.

Those Who Cannot Stand You

Third, and hardest, those who cannot stand you, the people who seem to oppose you for no reason you can name. When you say up, they say down. Often the reason is simple: you threaten them. Your competence exposes their insecurity, your dedication highlights their lack of it, and so they resent you.

Jesus says even these you must learn to serve, and again the logic of self-control holds. If you refuse to love them because they hate you, then their hatred is steering you. You are no longer in control. So how do you love an enemy? You stop competing. You quit exposing their weaknesses and instead make room for them. You honor them, encourage them, and lift them up rather than putting them down.

Someone will object, "But that feels like pretending to be someone I'm not." Consider this: is that not exactly what God has done for us? He calls things that are not as though they were. He named us righteous, beloved, and beautiful while we were still a mess, and His generous words called a new reality into being. Jesus came down and lived among us as we are, precisely so He could lift us up to become like Him.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Romans 12:14, 16

You do not become foolish by loving your enemy; you simply stop wielding your strengths as weapons. Only someone standing higher can reach down and lift another up. They can try to pull you down, but you can pull them up. So this Christmas, think of the person you suspect truly dislikes you, and let them receive your most generous gift. Break the power of that hostility by paying the costly price of love.

The Rest of the Story

Now back to Mandela. Twenty-seven years in prison, much of it in a tiny cell with a straw mat, classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, allowed one letter and one visit every six months. His mother died while he was inside; his eldest son died in a car crash; he was permitted to attend neither funeral. When he finally walked free, he was arguably the most powerful man in South Africa.

And what did he do with that power? Not revenge. He gave the rest of his life to loving and serving both the white minority who had oppressed him and the fellow activists he personally struggled to get along with. He fought white domination for twenty-seven years, then spent his remaining years resisting every other kind of domination, caring for the masses who had no one to fight for them.

In prison he became a committed follower of Christ. He read his Bible, studied his opponents' history, and encountered a famous old poem whose closing lines declare, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." The question that poem raises is the one Jesus is pressing on us: what actually controls you? Your fears? Your wounds? The way others treat you? As Mandela himself observed, no one is born hating; people learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart.

So here is the high call, and it is for you today. Reach for greatness, by all means. God put that longing in you. But reach for it His way. Take control of yourself through the help of the Holy Spirit, and bring yourself to love the lowest, those who cannot stand, those you cannot stand, and those who cannot stand you. He loved you when you had nothing to offer. Ask Him to teach you to do the same, and you will discover that the road down is the only road that ever leads up.