What Makes Us Great?

As a Christian parent, what is your greatest desire for your children? I’m afraid that all-too-often, we allow our desires for our children to be shaped by the ideals of the kingdom of this world, rather than by the ideals of the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 20, we read about the request made to Jesus by a mother named Salome, about her sons, the disciples of Jesus named James and John. She wanted Jesus to grant to them power and authority, including sitting at the right and left hand of Jesus in His kingdom. But Jesus explains to them and all of us that whoever would be great must be a servant. We need to teach our kids that greatness comes through entering into the sufferings of Christ, and living lives marked by servanthood. Consider what theologian R.T. France has said: “Self-importance, the desire to be noticed and respected, the ambition to make one’s mark and to impose one’s will on others, this is the value-scale of the rat-race, not of the kingdom of Christ.”